Switched
by MannAinsley
Summary: So not everything is as what it usually is. As the title says its switched! Castle and Beckett's lives are oddly different but oddly close to home! Have you ever wanted to read a story where Rick is the cop and Kate is the writer?
1. A new beginning

A young rookie cop walked on the scene with a vibrant, fresh feel that screamed that he was going to be green.

"Detective Castle?" a man called out from the other side of the room.

"That's me! Where do you want me sir?"

The older detective walked over to him and looked him up and down and said "We need you taking witness statements and then once we get a photo of our john doe, you need to circulate it around so we can try and ID this guy"

"Will do sir and please call me Rick." He sounded a little too friendly for a cop who was meant to be doing his job and not sucking up to his bosses.

"I assure you Officer Castle; I will not be calling you Rick."

"Rodger that. I will just be on my way then." He walked away with a grin on his face like he'd just accomplished something, even though he did quite the opposite.

Rick walked around for hours going from witness to witness getting statements from people who all have been watching way to much CSI and thought they could solve the murder with what they knew about forensics and crime fighting. After five hours of witness statements he finally got to move onto the attempted identification of the victim. No luck. He turned up empty and was ordered home by none other than his 'mate' from before detective Roy Montgomery.

"Castle, can you come down to the twelfth tomorrow I've got a job for you to do and quite a surprise up my sleeve" said Montgomery, but somehow Rick knew he wasn't lying about the surprise bit and something told him he was going to like it.

"Will do sir, see you tomorrow."

Rick opened up the door to his loft that his mother had left behind for him after she had died. Most wondered how he could afford such a place on a cops wage but he didn't dare to tell them the truth, he just told them that he came from money.

The place was so empty. Not another single soul had entered this house other than him for months, he was alone and he kind of liked it that way. His bachelor pad wasn't what you'd expect from the average 23 year old. Designer furniture, paintings, shelves covered in books and a huge kitchen because secretly deep down there was nothing better than cooking for Richard Castle.

He finally slumped down into bed not even bothering to have a shower and fell asleep.

His alarm failed to go off. Rick arose from his slumber 30 minutes before he was due at the 12th.

"JEEZ!" he exclaimed and quickly got up, had a shower, shoved some sort of food into his mouth that he was sure wasn't meant for human consumption and ran out the door.

Arriving at the precinct just in the nick of time he was welcomed by none other than Roy Montgomery.

"Hello sir" he said with a more than respectful grin on his face.

"Castle" Roy said giving him a nod in return. " I have a present for you, but I need you to do some stuff for me. It's going to take a while but I assure you it will all be worth it in the end."

"I'm up for anything sir, especially if there's a surprise waiting at the end for me."

"Ok, well then detective Parish will fill you in with the details. Get to work Castle."

"Will do sir. Thank you."

"So a female detective hey?" Rick asked with a cheeky smile plastered to his face.

"Castle I've got no time for your puny games. Montgomery wants you to go to these addresses and take these witnesses statements. They're the ones we didn't get around to doing yesterday so don't muck up okay."

"Yes mam!" he said still being a little too cheeky for Parish's liking. Castle walked off to the elevator doors about to make his was to the witnesses houses when he was stopped by Detective Parish again.

"Oh and Castle, he wasn't joking when Montgomery said you'd love your surprise."

For the next 5 and half hours Castle wasn't really listening to what anyone was saying, just took random notes here and there. He was more interested in what his surprise was and after his final witness statement he fled from the house back down to the twelfth.

The elevator doors opened and Officer Richard Castle walked out. Standing over by his Captains door was a young lady, maybe only two or three years younger than him and by god was she stunning. Long brown hair tied up into a messy bun and she was tall, oh god she was so beautiful. He walked over to Roy and stood there dumbstruck by her beauty.

"Rick, this is Katherine Beckett. She's a writer and she is going to be shadowing you for a while."

"I know who you are" he said softly. "I read you."

**I hope you all enjoy and would love any reviews! I hope you like the idea of it being mixed around. This is my first proper fan fic so I,will try to post at least once a week hopefully more.**


	2. Mother of a child

"You read me hah?"She said cheekily a grin plastered to her face.

"Well I read your books, not you exactly" he said awkwardly. "Although I wouldn't mind reading you" he whispered just loud enough that only she could hear.

"Okay so if it's alright with you Officer Castle, I would like to shadow you for a while? I want to get some genuine information for my next book and a little birdy told me that you are my best bet."

"Well that little birdy was right and I would be honoured Miss Beckett. It is Miss right?"

"Yes it is Miss and call me Kate, but I have no idea why you would want to know?" she said teasing him.

"Oi Castle!" Roy yelled. "Espo has something for you down in the morgue and maybe while you're there show your new friend around."

"Will do sir, let's go Beckett."

"It's Kate."

* * *

They both walked down into the morgue. Castle was walking around like he owned the place and Kate was just absorbing every smell, every noise and every overly shiny surface.

"Ah so this is the writer that's following you around now hey Castle?" Espo said.

"Yeah I guess she is. Oh where are my manners? Beckett this is our ME Javier Esposito, Espo this is Beckett."

"It's Kate and pleased to meet you Javier" Kate said distracted by the LED lights that filled the room.

"So, ah, what did you want Espo?" Rick said while staring at the dead body that lied in front of him.

"Well honestly I just wanted to meet your new lady friend." When he said that Kate turned around and showed a scrunched up face that showed disapprovement. "And I wanted to know if we were still on for tomorrow night?"

A confused look washed over Ricks face.

"You know the poker game we planned like two weeks ago?"

"Oh yes I remember. You coming at 7?" He so didn't remember the plans he supposedly made with his mates.

"Yeah, yeah I will be there so will Ryan and Demming."

"Okay well I'm officially off duty now so I'm gonna go. Coming Beckett?"

They walked back up to the precinct in a really awkward silence.

"So that's it? That's day one of the great and wonderess life of Officer Richard Castle?"

"Well yeah" he said awkwardly. "I have the next two days off so you're free to pretty much do anything. Unless…..Hey do you want to help me organise my little get together? You are welcome to attend."

"Um sure that would be cool I guess. Get to know the other side of Rick."

"Not much to know really" he laughed and look directly into her eyes. "Come on will give you a lift back to mine, but first we need to make a quick stop."

* * *

Well their quick stop turned out to be a two hour shop at a Costco. Kate was looking immensely bored and Rick was trying to choose which beer would go best with the food he was going to make for them all.

"Jeez Castle! Let's get out of here!" she picked up a case of beer put it in the trolley and started to walk off.

"Bossy. I like it" he said so softly no one other than himself could hear it.

* * *

They arrived at the loft and were in the elevator with three other guys who had to help get all their groceries up to his place. They elevator doors opened and they all stepped out right in front of Castle's door.

"It's alright guys, I've got it from here" he said while giving them both a generous tip.

He opened the door, they both waked in and straight away Kate's jaw dropped.

"Oh my gosh Castle, nice digs! How can someone with your wage afford this place? I'm a bestselling author and I wouldn't be able to get this!"

"Um" he said not sure if he should tell the truth. "Well truthfully, my mother left it for me after she died and couldn't let a place like this go to waste" he said hesitantly. His voice was filled with a 'I've never told anyone this before' vibe.

"Oh Castle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up." He then interrupted her with.

"No Kate its fine. It was a long time ago, she died in a car accident when I was nineteen."

They both than carried all the bags inside and popped a bottle of white wine to celebrate their accomplishment (there were a lot of bags).

"I'm sorry Castle but I've got to go. I have to pick my daughter up from my parent's house before she drives them crazy about asking where I am."

Rick was astonished. "You have a daughter?"

"Yeah" she said and pulled a photo out of her wallet. "Her name is Rory."

Castle stared at the photo that was offered to him. She was beautiful. Gorgeous brown curly hair and beautiful browny-green eyes that were identical to her mothers. He had always wanted kids but had yet to find the right women. He couldn't help but think maybe the woman standing in front of him was her.

"She's beautiful, much like her mother."

Kate blushed. "So I will see you tomorrow night Castle? 7?"

"Yeah will see you than Kate."

When she left the loft he couldn't believe his luck.

"Oh I think I have a bit of a crush" he said to himself before getting back to unpacking the rest of the groceries.


	3. Ogling

The loft was filled with the sweet aroma of baked goods that Rick was currently half was through making. His IPod was plugged into the dock and was playing his cooking playlist that contained John Mayer, Andrew Belle, The Fray, Yellow card and Katy Perry (and yes he did have a soft side for the Queen of pop). As he was pulling things out of the oven and shoving things back in just as fast there was a loud knock on the door.

"Kate?" he said as he opened the door. She was in running gear and was covered in sweat from head to toe, and still she looked just as hot. "Um what are you doing here? And what are you wearing? Are you alright? Was someone chasing after you?"

"Nar I'm fine" she said, letting herself into his loft. "I hope you don't mind me coming here early. I dropped Rory off at my parents and decided to run the rest of the way."

"Kate its 30 degrees outside, how can you possibly run in that."

"Oh the magic that can occur when you don't have a car Rick. Anyway, could I use your shower? I'm pretty sure none of you will like me the way I smell at the moment."

"Um yeah sure." He said with an awkward tone. He had to admit no one, especially a woman, had ever turned up at his loft covered in sweat and asking for a shower. "You can use the upstairs shower. All the essentials should already be in there so your set."

"Thanks Rick. Can I leave my bag and stuff here" she said pointing towards a long table that extended the length of his lounge room. He nodded. She pulled out her clothes that Rick presumed she was going to wear tonight, emptied the contents of her pockets onto the table and started up the stairs. "Again, thank you. I don't know too many guys that would let a stranger shower in his house."

"It's fine really you can shower here anytime." He stopped with that because he had only just realised how awkward what he had said sounded. She then headed up the stairs into the bathroom and left him to dwindle in his own thoughts.

Twenty minutes passed and Kate was still in the shower and he wondered what she was doing. Ok, so he started wondering what she was going to be doing in the shower a long time before she had even got into the shower so he tried to distract himself by focusing on the pudding he was making for dessert. He was kidding himself though; nothing could distract him from the beauty that was currently naked in his shower upstairs.

Kate's phone started to ring and by god it was loud. He took a mental note to ask her how she got it to such a high decibel; he needed it for when he had to get up at monstrous hours of the morning for work. He didn't know what to do. Answer it or not answer it? He was still making his decision after about one and a half minutes. He took another mental note to ask her about her ringing length as well.

"Rick could you please answer that!" she called from the bathroom, the shower still running in the back ground.

He ran over to her phone and flipped up the screen. He did have to admit, a bestselling novelist should have a much nicer phone.

"Um hi, Kate Beckett's phone." He said awkwardly kind of like it was his first time answering a phone and he didn't know what to say.

"Ah hi this is Alexis Castel Kate's publisher. Who is this I may be speaking to?"

She sounded so official and she kinda scared him a little.

"Oh where are my manners? My name is Richard Castle sorry but Beckett is upstairs showering. Do you want to leave a message?"

"Showering hey? Rick, can I call you Rick?" not waiting for his reply she continued on. "I really need to talk to her now, it's really important writer stuff you know." She talked to him like he was a small child. Rick didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah I do know. I went to Yale and studied to become a writer. I finished but decided to join the police academy instead."

"Really? Wow. I guess you learn something new every day right? From just talking to you though you don't seem like the writer type. Although I could see the name Richard Castle plastered all over books and pictured on high rise buildings. Yale's a good school too. My older sister went there. Maybe you know her? Her name is…." She was interrupted by Kate snatching the phone off Castle's ear and placing it up to her own. Rick had the thought that she must be half ninja or something because she snuck down those stairs without him noticing and that took some effort.

"Alexis sorry I'm busy. I will come see you tomorrow after I drop Rory off at day-care. Ok, thanks for the call, bye!" she hung up on her even before she got a single word in. Pretty impressive, Rick thought to himself.

"Sorry about that" she said while grabbing what looked like a makeup bag out of her backpack. "Alexis is just a little too needy when it comes to me and when I'm going to finish my next chapter."

Castle was lost for words. He wasn't listening at all just staring at her. She was wearing long, black skinny leg jeans that fitted to her legs perfectly and a loose dark grey cotton top fitted with a belt sitting just below her breasts. The outfit showed off everything structurally amazing about this woman. She looked flawless even without makeup on and he was still gawking at her minutes later and was only interrupted by a giggle that slipped out of her mouth when she noticed him.

"This is going to sound weird" she said trying to hold in her laughter still obviously amused by Castle's ogling. "But would you happen to have any blush? Mine has kind of spilled all through my bag" she pointed down to her bag that had a fine dust coating the inside contents.

"Um no sorry. Blush isn't exactly on my list of essential things that my guests might need in an emergency but I will be sure to put it on the list for next time." A smile spread across his face because obviously because it was a very, very stupid question to him. It had been months since another woman had been in his loft and even longer since one of them had applied make up in one of his bathrooms.

"I just thought that maybe your girlfriend had some or something, maybe some left over from.." she started getting quieter and quieter because of the smile that arose on Ricks face. "I'm guessing you don't have a girlfriend."

He laughed not bothering to answer her question and walked over to the kitchen.

"The best I could do is give you some flour to pat onto your already perfect face. There is no need for makeup Kate."

She gave him a look that said something like 'you've got to be kidding right'. She walked over to the kitchen and sat on a bar stool. She pulled out a stick of bright red lipstick and applied it without even needing a mirror and did it perfectly. It was obvious she'd had practice.

"Wow Castle. Are you a chef or something?"

"No, my mum taught me to cook at a young age and it just kinda stuck with me I guess."

"Well she certainly did a good job."

She wasn't kidding she looked out in front of her and saw a bench literally full of delicious food and there was more in the oven and she could bet there would be dessert in the fridge.

"So when are the more non-intrusive guests coming."

Rick couldn't help but give out a small chuckle.

"They should be here any minute."

* * *

**Hope yo enjoy:) please leave a review if you liked this chapter. And btw off you haven't realised I'm Australian that's why 30 degrees is really hot and I write mum instead of mom. **


	4. Richard Alexander Rodgers

**Sorry guys if this is a bit dull but I need to structure the characters because of the whole 'switched' thing. I hope you like how I've done it all. I've switched everyone but Montgomery but he will not be exactly the same as in the show. Please leave a review with what you think or PM me if you have any ideas you want to see in the future. Thanks:)**

* * *

The seven of them sat around the poker table gathering their chips and slowly snaking on the feast that Rick had prepared for them. Kate knew she couldn't waste any time and she thought she should get right down to business.

"So guys…. What do you all do? I know you all kinda work with the police in one way or another, but I would love the details so I can feature you all in my next book."

They all looked at her in confusion, but Ryan decided he should go first.

"Well first thing I should clear up for you Miss Beckett," he looked all serious and chucked a couple of chips into the centre on the table to start the game. "My name is actually Kevin, Kevin Ryan, so feel free to call me whatever you wish." He then looked up to her with a smile on his face. She had only just realised that he had amazing blue eyes. "Well anyway I'm the IT guy down at the precinct. So I just pretty much deal with computers all day."

"Cool, seems exciting Kevin!" she said, genuinely meaning it.

"Not really" he replied. "I have to work with guys every day." He had the biggest smile and he knew he would be in trouble at work tomorrow. They were all very touchy when it came to Ryan the IT guy.

Demming went next.

"Well I'm Tom, Tom Demming; I'm a reporter for the 12th precinct. So I deal with getting all the important things into the news and papers, well that's just a small part of job I do. I actually play a big part in catching the criminals." He smiled with pride, like what he had said was actually true. All of the police officers around him have off a chuckle and even Kevin joined in too. "Shut up guys!" he said, his pride was obviously wounded.

"Well you know me," Esposito said and he looked over to the lady next to him.

"Well I'm Lanie Parish, I'm a homicide detective." She said it so calmly and normal, like that being a homicide detective was plan and boring.

"I've heard big things about you Lanie. A little birdy told me you're going to go far through the NYPD." Kate said this and looked down at her cards because she could tell everyone was looking at her. "I'm a good friend of the Major." She finally looked up. Everyone was still looking at her; a stunned look covered all of their faces "OK guys she's a fan."

"You're friends with Meredith Lee Harper, like in the Meredith Lee Harper!" Rick was stunned and wanted to know more about his new partner's ties.

"Yes guys I am friends with the major and no, I won't ask him favours for you." She looked directly at Rick, it was like she could read his thoughts.

"Well you know me Kate, and by the way, me and the wife are big fans of your books" Roy said, doing Kate a favour by changing the subject.

"Thankyou sir, I also heard that you're due to be the next captain of the 12th"

"If all goes to plan, hopefully by next year."

* * *

They sat there in a comfortable silence while playing poker for a while until Rick did what he did best, disturb the silence.

"You know I was going to be a writer" he said, his poker face still clearly in play.

Six faces turned directly towards him, all of their jaws dropped.

"What?" Kate said.

"Yeah… um well" he was disturbed by everyone's reactions to his news. "I went to college and got my degree, left home wrote a book and got picked up by a publisher but dropped out just before it was realised and joined the force."

They were all still speechless. They just sat there staring at him; the game of poker had come to a screaming holt. They clearly wanted more information and he wasn't going to give it all to them.

"You guys look like you've literally just seen a bomb go off."

"Well one may as well have! Oh my gosh Castle why didn't you ever tell us!" Lanie said.

"And let you find out all my little secrets? No. but I will tell you one thing. Richard Castle isn't my given name."

Again, jaws hit the table.

"Guys really? You all look like kids in a pet store looking at all the cute puppies!" He was honestly shocked at their reaction. "Okay guys if I tell you, you have to promise to keep playing poker and you are to never, ever run a back ground check on me."

All six heads around the table started to nod.

"Okay well my given name is Richard Alexander Rodgers. I changed it for my books, apparently Rick Edgar Castle is more appealing for the audiences." He winked at Kate because he knew that she knew exactly what he meant.

A knock on the door disturbed the awkward silence and was exactly what Rick needed.

"This must be Kira and Gina." Rick walked over and answered the door. As expected two beautiful ladies stood in front of him.

"Hello ladies, would you like to come in?"

"Sorry Rick we would love to but we Kira has a big case tomorrow and we need to go over her notes, I hope you understand."

"Yeah sure guys but next time no excuses." A cheeky smiled spread across his face as he let them leave and closed the door behind them.

"Gina and Kira?" Kate asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry I should've introduced you. Gina is a Judge downtown and Kira is a big time lawyer, big with the celebrities."

"Oh cool we will have to meet them in person sometime; they would both be interesting characters for my book."

"Yeah Kate why don't you tell us all about this new book" Rick said trying to change the previous subject. Kate didn't argue and started to discuss her new book with the people who it would be based on.

They started to play poker again and they went on to play into the wee hours of the morning. By 2am it was just Kate and Rick sitting alone at the poker table, poking at the left over's from Castles feast. It was clear that he had over catered for his guests.

"This was a good night Castle. We have to do it again some time."

"Sure thing writer- girl. It's a pleasure having such a shining star in my house" he said sarcastically.

"Well apparently I'm not the only writer here writer-boy" she said with a cheeky grin.

"Hey that's writer-man to you missy. And that was a long time ago Kate. That's not me anymore."

"Why not? Why did you give up a promising career? It's extremely difficult to get a publisher, especially in the crime fiction genre."

"A lot of things happened Kate. The main reason was when my mother died I lost most of my inspiration. She was an actor you know, she got me into writing. She died a month before I graduated from college, I finished for her and I started to write my book right before she died so I just finished it, but it was never the same."

"I'm sorry Castle. I didn't mean to bring up your mother again." She looked genuinely sorry.

"It's fine. It was a long time ago. I've got to get up early tomorrow to leave for my vacation so you better get going."

"Yeah" she said and started for the door "Tell me when you're back in town okay?"

"Will do Kate. Goodnight."

She walked off into the elevator and let the doors close in front of her. Rick didn't bother to clean up the huge mess that was left in his house; he just went straight to bed.

* * *

"Hey Alexis, sorry I know it's late but I need you to do me a favour. Can you please find me an unpublished book that was written by Richard Castle?" Kate said and Alexis started to mumble on the other end. "Yeah thank you, will come see you in two days for that meeting. Night." She hung up and caught a taxi back to her apartment.


	5. Stay the night

**hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in like 2 weeks but I promise I will post more often!**

* * *

The next couple of days that Rick had off were killing him. It's not that he was missing work or missing the 'thrill' of being a cop at the bottom of the food chain, he just wanted to see Kate.

He couldn't keep her off his mind. But he knew she was off limits. If he started going after her his life would turn into a Taylor Swift song, and he didn't need that.

* * *

It was the last day of his days off and he was uptown buying a new suit for his charity event he was made to attend tonight. His mother was a part of 'Water for Africa', a small non charitable organisation that Martha had dedicated all of her time to. The new organisers said that it wouldn't be the same without a Rodgers there. He thought why not, free drinks, free food, what was there to loose. Well he soon discovered it was paying for an $800 suit.

* * *

Arriving at the party, Rick stepped out of the Limo that was provided for him and stepped onto the green carpet. Apparently red was too 'mainstream' for a non for profit organisation.

He walked down towards the entrance of the huge hall that was laid out in front of him. Paparazzi snapping photos of the celebrities that surrounded him, but left him relatively alone which he enjoyed.

He entered the doors only to be swiped away by one of the organisers who debriefed him on when he had to say his speech and what he would be saying.

"I already have my speech planned out" he said with concern, he really didn't want to do this speech. "I will talk about my mother and how she loved you all, present my donation then announce the next person."

"Well done Mr Castle, seems like you have this all planned out."

He ignored her and walked off. He didn't mean to be so rude but he needed alcohol to be able to get through this night. He went to the bar and ordered a scotch.

Waiting for his drink he turned around and leant on the bar. He couldn't believe his eyes. Kate Beckett was here in a stunning dress that made him drool. She wasn't the only one looking stunning. A young girl was hanging off her arm and was looking cute as a button. He completely ignored his scotch and walked up to her.

"Miss Beckett, what pleasure do I owe to see you here" he put on his most mature voice.

She spun around and was completely shocked to see Rick in front of her.

"Rick, um hey. What are you doing here?" she blushed.

"These fancy smancy outings are not only for world class writers you know, they're also for the relatives of dead sponsors." He laughed but the look on Kate's face said that is was definitely not funny.

"So this must be Rory, you are looking very dazzling tonight young ma'am."

Rory dug into her mother's shoulder, clearly she was shy.

"A shy one you got here Kate" he said. "And Kate you're looking beautiful tonight."

"Well thankyou Castle." She motioned for her daughter to look up at the man that was standing in front of them. "Rory this is Rick, he's a good friend of Mummy's."

"Really?" the little girl said, her voice was adorable and reminded Rick of how much he wanted kids.

"Yeah, he's awesome. He's the guy that I work with now." Kate looked towards Rick as if she needed approval.

"He's the one that's going to keep you safe?" the little girl whispered into her mother's ear but Rick could still hear her.

"Yeah he is, why don't you go see Ash and Hope over at the play tables?" Kate said and pointed in the direction of where she wanted her to go. Rory climbed down off her mother and ran over to her friends.

"Protect you hey?" Rick said with a smirk.

"Okay, it's not what it seems. She's had nightmares ever since I told her I'm working with the police."

"Kate she's three how can she possibly know about that kinda stuff?"

"If you ask her she will tell you that she three and three quarters and don't try to tell her differently. She's an incredibly smart three and three quarter year old. She gets everything and the only way I could make the nightmares stop was to tell her that you were going to protect me." She looked scared and Rick finally realised the severity of this.

"It's fine Kate. I would be happy to protect you." He gave her a wink before they were interrupted by a young and peppy ginger haired woman that ran over to them.

"Rick, this is Alexis. Alexis, Rick." Kate said. She was clearly embarrassed but Rick didn't know what for.

"Mr Rick Castle. I finally get to meet the man behind the amazing book" Alexis said with an overly happy grin.

"What?" Rick said with concern.

Kate was wildly shaking her head at Alexis and luckily Rick couldn't see. Alexis got the picture.

"Oh, the other day your novel came across my table. A great read by the way. Devastating that you didn't publish, would've been a best seller."

"Well thankyou, I think. Excuse me but I have to go do my speech, wish me luck? And Kate can we talk after?" Rick was in a rush, he could see the look of the organisers face when she saw him talking to people that didn't need to be talked to.

"Um yeah sure and good luck" Kate said.

"Thanks" he said and walked off towards the stage.

* * *

Kate turned towards the stage to face her new partner that was about to say his big speech to a room full of people.

She wasn't really listening all she could concentrate on was his good looks. He was ruggedly handsome and had a smile to die over. She continued not to listen until she heard the sentence "And that's why I'm donating twenty thousand dollars to the cause" and the gasps that occurred after it.

He wasn't rich. He had told her that his loft had come from his late mother. He may have had money, but definitely not twenty thousand dollars to throw around.

He walked off the stage towards her. Everyone else was trying to get his attention, to try and thank him for his donation but it was clear that he only wanted to see her. It made her heart melt just a tad.

"Rick, what was that? You don't have twenty grand to just throw around! Do you?" Kate was still shocked.

"Well I don't, but my dead mother does" he chuckled but again it definitely wasn't funny.

"Wow, that's amazing Rick, you would just donate you in inheritance to a charity? That's amazing!" She was impressed; she had never met such a generous man before.

"Well I'm not going to use it, May as well go to someone who will. Sorry Kate but these guys are really pissing me off and they won't stop until I talk to them. Do you mind?" he was genuinely asking, like if she said don't go that he wouldn't.

"Yeah, go. I have some people to talk to anyway. People like Alexis. It's time to wish me luck."

They went their separate ways towards opposite sides of the room and joined the crowds of people who were waiting for them.

* * *

Rick just stood with a glass of scotch in his hand and answered any questions that were asked. They were mostly just a lot of old people saying "Wow, you are just like your mother" or "Wow, we need more men like you here? Do you want to join the organisation?"

It was pretty easy to answer all the questions. If he was asked to join something he just simply stated that his job took up too much of his time, he also used this excuse when the ladies wanted to set up their daughters.

He stood there for hours just being bored and definitely not enjoying himself. He saw Kate over the other side of the room with Rory hanging off her shoulder complaining and wanting to go home. He didn't blame her, it was11pm and even he was ready for bed.

"Excuse me gentlemen" he said and walked off towards Kate.

He took Kate and Rory away from the group of people she was talking to, and he did it quite rudely and started talking to Kate.

"Rick I was in the middle of a very important convosation, you just can't pull me out of something like that!" She was angry but Rick had a good reason to have done what he did.

"Let me take Rory. She needs to go to bed, I will take her back to my place and you can pick her up after you're finished. You have work to do and you can't do that with a crying baby hanging off your shoulder."

"Rick, I couldn't. I can't ask that of you."

"It's fine. I insist, well as long as it's okay with Rory"

Rory nodded her head. At that stage anything to do with anyone's home and her sleeping she would agree to. He could still see the concern on Kate's face.

"Kate you can trust me. Just come pick her up when you're finished. I might even have some clothes that will fit her if she's lucky."

"Rick you don't know how much this means to me" she said while passing over her child.

"Don't mention it" he said while gratefully taking the child out of her hands.

"Thankyou" she said again and gave him a peck on the cheek which made him blush a little.

"Get back to work" he said and winked. He then walked away with her baby. He was the only one she has ever trusted Rory with other than her parents.

* * *

He strapped Rory into the car and hoped in beside her.

"Where are we going Rick?" she asked with that adorable voice.

"We're going to my house but first we need to make a quick stop."

* * *

They arrived at the twenty-four hour shop in a limo and looked completely out of character for the area. Rick carried Rory into the shop and she was extremely confused.

"What are we doing here?"

"We need some supplies for tonight princess." He didn't know if he should be making nicknames up for his co-workers kids but it suited her, especially in that dress of hers.

"I like princess" Rory said with a smile.

"Good, now what kind of PJ's does a princess wear?"

"Ones with unicorns on them!"

"Okay… Well, look! Here is some unicorn PJ's…. Now just for the ice cream…"

"Mummy doesn't let me have ice-cream"

"Okay… Are you allergic to anything?"

Rory shrugged. Rick instantly picked up his phone and texted Kate.

**R: Hey is Rory allergic to anything?**

**K: No, why? What are you feeding my daughter Castle? Shouldn't she be home in bed by now?**

**R: Oh nothing just making sure just in case.**

"Okay let's get double choc fudge!"

"Sounds good to me!" Rory yelled a little too loudly.

They preceded towards the check outs and scanned their items then went and jumped back into the limo.

* * *

They arrived at the loft way past midnight and Rick was in a rush to get Rory to bed.

"Okay princess we will quickly eat the ice-cream then we will brush our teeth, get into our PJ's then off to bed."

"Okay" Rory exclaimed excitedly.

They then pigged out on ice-cream which made Rick feel sick but apparently Rory had a hard stomach, then they ran upstairs and brushed their teeth, then they were ready to get changed. This was the awkward part for Rick. He hadn't thought about it before. Was he aloud to dress Rory? Would it be weird?

"Hey Princess, can you dress yourself"

"Um, no. The last time I tried to dress myself I fell over." She was clearly embarrassed and it was so damn cute.

"Okay. Um, just give me a sec."

**R: Hey Kate, um this is awkward but is it okay if I dress Rory? It's fine if you say no.**

**K: It's fine Rick. I fully trust you with my daughter;)**

That messaged almost wiped her off her feet. He was so cute asking her if it was ok. He was literally the nicest guy she had ever met.

**R: Okay thanks. Will see you when you get home:)**

**K: Will do. See you soon.**

Did he really just say home? As in their home? He couldn't have. He can't like her, she liked him. Whoever Kate likes never likes her back. Kate was flustered for the rest of the night. Oh so much what a small sentence could do to a girl.

* * *

He dressed her, tucked her into bed and even pulled out one of his children's books he had once written and read it to her until she fell asleep. It didn't take long; he only made it up to page four.

He exited the room and left the door open a little so the light from the hallway would shine through the darkness. He went down to his room and got a shirt and some boxers for Kate if she did end up staying and put them on the bed which Rory was already in it.

It was too late for him to stay up and wait for her to come, so he wrote a small note for her and went off to bed.

* * *

Kate pushed down on the handle and luckily the front door to Ricks loft was open. She walked in but almost tripped in the darkness. She turned on the light to see a child's whiteboard standing in front of her. It read: "Kate I've gone to bed. Please make yourself at home. Rory is in bed and I have put out some clothes for you to sleep in. Upstairs, two doors on the right is where you will find her. Sweet Dreams xxx" His message melted her heart. It was so kind of him to take Rory, let alone let them stay here.

She wandered up the stairs and found the bedroom and the bathroom. Rory was all tucked in and there were clothes on the bed. She walked into the bathroom and stripped off and got changed into the boxers and she guessed a shirt of Rick's. She looked over to the sink and found a tooth brush and a container of bush. There was a note that said: "For you. But you can use the blush for next time." He had even put a winky face after it. Her heart melted at the words 'next time'. He wanted her to stay again, and that's all Kate need for her to bite down on her bottom lip because she wanted him. Oh how she wanted him.

She used the toothbrush and then used the wipes that she found under the sink and wiped off her make-up.

"God does this man think of everything" she said aloud.

She entered the bedroom and hoped into bed with her daughter who instantly snuggled into her mother's chest. She was about to switch off the side lamp but something caught her eye, it was a book. She picked it up and read the cover 'Roses by the Meadow by Richard Rodgers'.

"Wow is there anything this man hasn't done?" she whispered to herself before switching off the light and resting her head onto the pillow. She was asleep in an instant.

* * *

**hey can you please leave a review on what you think? Would mean a lot! Xoxox thanks:)**


	6. Play date?

**hey guys! So I'm on holidays at the moment so I've had tonnes of time to write! Hopefully more chapters will be comeing soon as I have a very long car trip awaiting me! Enjoy:)**

**disclaimer:I definetly don't own Castle.**

* * *

She woke in the morning to the smell of pancakes and bacon wafting up under her door. She felt across the bed for her daughter but she wasn't there. She quickly jumped up and went to the bathroom then started down the stairs.

She walked towards the kitchen where she saw her daughter and Rick cooking pancakes and had batter all over both of their faces.

"Morning Kiddies" Kate said taking a stool out from under the bench and sitting on it.

"Who are you calling the kid?" Rick exclaimed and gave Rory a wink.

"Yeah Mum! Who are you calling the kid?" the little girl exclaimed and had both of her hands on her hips with a frustrated pose which made both adults start laughing.

"Coming from the two with pancake batter all over their faces?" She winked back at Rick who was laughing at Rory's more than serious face.

"Oh yes, the pancakes. Well we made all the pancakes that were needed and there is no way we were going to waste perfectly good batter"

"So you decide to rub it all over my poor defenceless daughter?" She was smiling and it was melting Rick's heart.

"Kate she is far from poor and defenceless! You should see my pants!" He then stepped out from behind the bench to reveal himself fully to Kate. He was covered from his knees down with a thick sticky layer of cream coloured batter.

"Oh god Castle!" she said unable to contain her giggles. "I'm so sorry but this is one of the funniest sights I've ever seen."

"Hey don't thank me; all I have got from this morning is that I know your daughter is going to be a boy slayer when she's older. That smile can and will get here anywhere."

"Where do you think she got it from Castle?" she said and gave him a seductive smile. It was all going a little weirdly for Kate and she was starving and wanted some of these pancakes that she had be hearing about.

"I will go clean off Rory and then we come back and eat breakfast" she smiled down at her little girl.

"We've already eaten sleepy head. I will take Rory and clean her off." Rick reached into the fridge and pulled out a plate of pancakes, berries and ice-cream then pulled four pieces of bacon out of the fry pan with a pair of tongs.

"Wow, thankyou Castle" Kate said as she looked down at the plate that was over flowing with food.

"No problem. Let's go princess" he said and took Rory's hand in his and started up the stairs.

Kate turned around quickly in shock at the whole 'Princess' thing. When had it become Princess? When had her daughter become so close to Rick? Could it of happened in just one short night? Surely not. But she'd have to admit, she didn't mind the thought of Rory finally have a male role model.

Rick was in the bathroom with Rory cleaning her off with a wet washer. Her PJ's were completely covered in batter so after she was fully clean, he dressed her back into her dress from the night before.

"All good Princess?" he asked and tapped her on the nose.

"Yep" she exclaimed with the sweetest voice that melted Rick's heart.

"Okay lets go down and find mummy" he said and picked her up and placed her on his hip.

Kate saw them walking down the stairs, Rick still in his PJ's and Rory in her dress. She had finished her breakfast and she had to admit it, they were possibly the most delicious pancakes she had ever tasted.

"Wow someone looks beautiful this morning" Kate said with a smile.

"Well thankyou Kate" Rick said with a wink.

"Hmmm very funny big guy" she laughed.

"Mummy! Come sit on the couch with me and I will show you Ricky's book he wrote! He's like you mummy!" little girl exclaimed while grabbing onto her mums leg and urging her towards the couch.

"Just like Mummy hey?" Kate said and looked to Rick and winked. Winking had become a big recurrence in there day to day talking.

As Rick was doing the dishes he overheard the whole mother/daughter convosation going on. Mostly it was just Rory blurting her guts about last night and how he had bought her ice-cream and PJ's. As soon as the cute three year old opened her mouth Rick received a concerning glance from Kate.

Kate turned on the TV and put on ABC for Rory to watch. Instantly she became consumed in the show and drowned out the rest of the world. She walked over to Rick and stood there with her hands on her hips, a concerned look washing across her face.

"Rick you didn't need to go the store and buy my daughter PJ's" she was being dead serious but Rick was just glad she wasn't bringing up the ice cream. "She could've slept in her dress or just in her underwear.

"I know" he smiled, "But your daughter is adorable and she is a princess. Princesses deserve cute PJ's" he winked at her.

"You so wanted to spoil my child didn't you?" she said with a sly tone.

"Would you judge me if I said yes?" he chuckled.

"No, it just might make me like you a little more." She smiled at him with that smile of hers that could charm any guy into doing anything. "Thank you, and thank you for asking about the whole allergy thing, it's true when she said that I don't let her have ice-cream."

"That's ridiculous!" he exclaimed but the smile never left his lips. "Well I guess it can be our special thing."

"Are you saying that you want to be seeing my daughter more often Mr Castle?"

"That and other things" he said with a wink.

Kate rolled her eyes, oh how he could be so childish, but she wasn't about to admit to him that she wanted to see more of him too.

"Come on Rory we better get home and leave Rick to clean up. Weren't you meant to work today?" she asked.

"Captain rang this morning, got today off too. Will I be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Sure will be" she assured, "Probably at about nine."

"Sounds good" he laughed. Rory had wrapped herself around his legs and was squeezing them as hard as she could.

"Bye, bye Ricky" she cried. Rick was running his finger through the girls` blonde locks like it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

"Bye Princess" he said and knelt down to be eye level with the girl. "See you soon." He then got closer to her ear and whispered into it, "For more ice cream okay."

Rory giggled and her mother knew exactly why.

"Bye Rick and thank you again for letting us stay here last night and bringing Rory here." She smiled at him and leant in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

They opened the door and the two women left his loft and hoped into the elevator and waved to Rick as the door closed.

"Crap" he yelled to himself. He wasn't just in love with girl; he was in love with the girls' mother.

* * *

Kate and Rory were in a taxi in the middle of peak hour traffic trying to get through Manhattan.

"Mummy" Rory asked quietly. It was obvious that she was up way too late last night and awoke too early. "Can we see Ricky again soon?" Her voice was so soft and so innocent that Kate got butterflies in her stomach. Had her daughter really just attached herself to a man she had only met twelve hours ago? Kate could barely leave her at her parents' house without tears being spilt; now she wanted to go on play dates with her mother's new co-worker. She hadn't made up her mind yet if she liked the idea, there could be no harm right? Rick was an awesome guy and spending more time with him could benefit her writing, finding out about the man behind the badge.

"Yeah we can go see Rick again" she mumbled back after finally realised that she took forever to reply to her daughter who was slowly falling asleep on her lap.

* * *

"Castle" he answered with his usual procedural tone.

"Hello officer Castle there's been a murder downtown and Detective Montgomery is asking for you." The person behind the phone was an officer from the 12th but he couldn't quite place a name to the voice.

"Yeah, where abouts?"

"54th street" the man answered.

"Yeah okay, what address?"

"Sir it just says 54th street"

"Crap. Okay tell him I will meet him there."

"Will do officer."

Rick hung up the phone and quickly got changed into his uniform. It was all creased and dirty but it would have to do for today. He then went to the safe and grabbed his badge and gun and holstered them to his waist. He grabbed his keys for his police issued car and started towards 54th street.

He was about two blocks away from the street when his phone rang.

"Castle" he said with anger. The traffic was pissing him off.

"Yeah Rick its Kate, are you there? At 54th I mean. I heard it's all hands on deck"

"Oh hi Kate" he replied while parking his car, getting out then he started running the two extra blocks towards the scene. "Yeah I'm just about there. Are you coming?"

"Yeah, if that's alright with you?"

Rick turned the corner onto the street. All Kate heard on the other end of the line was a huge gasp. They weren't kidding when they said the whole street was involved. Rick was still a good twenty metres away from the police tape, but he could still see the damage. Men, women, children all gunned down. Rick guessed that there was about twenty that were dead and even more wounded. Ambulance and Morgue vans lined the street picking up the victims.

"Rick, what's up?"

"Don't come down here okay, don't come down" he yelled into the phone. Kate didn't need to see this, god, he didn't need to see this.

"Why? What's up Rick?"

Just don't come down okay. You have to promise me that."

"I promise Rick, what's going on?"

"Will fill you in later" he said right before he hung up.

He flashed his badge and the uniform that was on duty.

"Det. Montgomery?" Rick asked.

"Over there Officer" he answered while pointing to a truck a little to the left of them.

"Thanks" Rick replied before running off towards the van.

Rick finally found him and his co-worker's there. Kate was right when she said "all hands on deck", everyone was there even Demming the reporter.

"Oh officer Castle you made it" growled Detective Parish. She was mad, Rick made a mental note to try and stay on her good side today, he had felt the wrath of a cranky Lanie one too many times.

"Well I wasn't going to miss a mass murder down at 54th street, but somehow the guy that called me left out the part where I might need counselling." He was joking but several glares from around him said that this wasn't a time to joke.

They spent the rest of the day picking up and finding evidence that would help solve the case. Luckily for Castle he didn't have to go running after the mad men that did this, although sometimes he wished he'd just be promoted to detective already.

After seven hours working nonstop at the scene he then had to go back to the precinct to sort through evidence and find which bits belonged where, and which detective it belonged to. Cliff notes version, there was a hell of an amount of paperwork. He worked until 1am when he realised that he had to be back here at 7. So he packed up his stuff and left the precinct. He was in no state to drive but he didn't have a choice, he couldn't leave his car here.

Rick stumbled through his door at a little after 1:30 and stripped down to just his jocks and jumped into bed, he didn't care about anything else he just wanted to sleep. He instantly fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

Kate was flustered. What was going on? He hadn't called to tell her, he promised her that he would. She hadn't had time to watch the news or read the paper; she'd been too busy with Rory.

She decided to call him. She didn't care that it was six in the morning; he would just have to answer and tell her everything that was going on. Something this juicy would be marvellous for her next book. She picked up her phone, went to her contacts and pressed call.

* * *

Rick was awakened by his phone ringing.

'CRAP!' he thought to himself. Had he slept in? Was this his boss about to rage at him for being late? He decided to stop guessing and pick up the phone.

"Castle" he yelled into his phone that was now on speaker. He was attempting to get into his pants and his shirt simultaneously; it wasn't working out for him.

"Hey Rick its Kate." She sounded nervous, like she was worried about something.

"Oh god, it's just you" Rick sighed and finally looked at the clock. It was only six o`clock, he didn't have to be at the precinct for another hour.

"Oh just me?" she laughed. "You never called to tell me what was going on."

"Oh" Rick sighed. "Sorry I only got home five hours ago. Major mass murder down on 54th, a lot of people killed. A lot of paperwork."

"Oh…." She felt really bad. He had only slept for five hours and here she is waking him up and straining him for information. "Sorry Rick, I didn't mean to wake you up. I didn't know."

"It's fine" he yawned. "You still coming in today could use someone to help me?"

"Yeah I will be there. See you around nine?"

"Yeah ok, I will be there in an hour but you have Rory so it's fine. Will see you at nine. Bye Kate" he whispered. He was drifting off to sleep. He had never been this tired before.

"Bye" she mumbled back.

They both hung up their phones and sighed. "Oh god" they said simultaneously.

* * *

Rick swore humans were never meant to write this much. He had so much paperwork to do and he was barely half way through his pile. It was ten o'clock and Kate still wasn't there, she probably just got caught up with her parents or something he thought to himself.

It wasn't until eleven o'clock he finally got a short break from the endless amounts of paper that surrounded him. He picked up his phone and read the message that displayed itself on the screen.

**K: I'm really sorry Rick. I can't make it in today, Rory is sick and she refuses to go to my parents' house. Sorry:(**

**R: It's fine, not much you could do here anyway. Tell Rory I said hi and I promise to visit her next week.**

**K: Will do. Thankyou Rick.**

Had Rick really just organised a play date or a 'visit' with her daughter like it was the most natural thing in the world. 'Wow this is weird' she thought to herself.

All day he did nothing but paperwork and by five he was well past his five cups of coffee per day limit. Most of the other detectives had gone home, mostly to their families but all of the officers were still here to do the paperwork. If Rick finished tonight Montgomery said he didn't have to come in tomorrow. He liked the idea, but he knew it meant another late night.

The precinct was silent; the only noise that was made was the sound of paper being shuffled or the occasional pen click from their biros. There was only three guys left and Rick had worked with them briefly before but had no idea what their names were.

"YES!" Rick exclaimed as he got two very dirty looks from the other two officers. "Sorry, I just finished my last sheet of work."

"Congratulations" one of the officers said sarcastically and picked up a large folder filled with paper. "I've still got this left. Enjoy your day off tomorrow."

"I will!" Ricks sighed, finally realising that it was all over.

* * *

"Rory sweetie you need to go to sleep" she pleaded.

"I can't" the little girl cried.

"I know sweetie but its past midnight and you need to get some rest." She was begging now. Rory hadn't slept all day and she was refusing to even shut her eyes and try to sleep.

She crawled into the little girls' bed and snuggled up beside her daughter.

"Okay Ror, I want you to at least try to close your eyes. Mummy will stay here and close her eyes too. Have we got a deal?"

"Okay, we have a deal."

Kate sighed in relief. Finally they could both get some rest. She still didn't know if she could get to the precinct tomorrow, it all depended on how Rory felt. It wasn't a very good start to her 'following the cop around' campaign. Truthfully she hadn't even started the outline for her next book. Maybe Rick could babysit for a day; she could maybe clean the house then and get her outline done. It was due in less than two weeks; it would be an amazing idea. No, it would be a stupid idea. Rick and Kate had only known each other for a little over a week, and yes there definitely was a connection between the two of them, she couldn't deny that. But to ask him to babysit for her, that was ridiculous. He had said that he wanted to spend time with Rory. It seemed that he had bonded extremely well with her child and she realised that because of that reason, nothing could happen between the two of them because there was now a child involved. She would just have to supress the urge to tear his clothes off next time she saw him. It sure was going to be a challenge.

She felt the little girl next to her relax and go limp and the movement of the little girls' chest rising and falling was the only sign that she hadn't just mysteriously died. The rhythm was soothing and slowly sent Kate to sleep.

* * *

**so guys what do you think? The chapters are slowly getting longer which is good! Are you all liking it? Please leave a review:)**

**Ror is going to be her nickname just incase people thought it was a type. I didn't want it to be roar. Um... I will update the next chapter as fast as possible:) **

**-Ainsley **


	7. Butterflies

"Come on Ricky!" the little girl exclaimed.

"I've got work to do princess, I will be done in thirty minutes" he laughed back at her. She was getting extremely anxious and bossy. Oh how adorable she was when she was bossy.

"Ror you're just going to have to wait until Rick is finished his work. You are lucky that he will take you for the day." She had a concerned look on her face.

"You mean you're lucky that I would take her for the afternoon Kate" he winked at her.

"Yes Rick you are right. I'm extremely thankful."

"No worries writer girl. I will take your daughter for ice cream and we can go see awesome dinosaurs at the museum, while you go home and write a boring old book." He gave her a sarcastic smile but then laughed at Rory's face when he said "ice cream". Her face lit up like no other.

"Well thank you anyway. Please don't get my daughter hyped up on sugar. I really don't need this little one bouncing off the walls tonight when it's passed her bedtime."

"Will try my hardest but sometimes my inner child gets the better of me" he said with a smirk.

"Mmmkay" she stated. "Well I have to go, have fun kiddo" she told the young girl.

"Bye Mummy" the girl said right before wrapping her hand Kate's legs and giving them a big squeeze.

Kate walked out of the precinct and into the elevator. She waved to them as the doors closed in front of her and suddenly Rick was alone with a three year old child.

"So are you two like dating?" Detective Parish asked.

"No" Rick answered bluntly, "She has an outline due for her new book and needed some time alone to write it."

"So you're babysitting?"

"Pretty much but I'm not complaining" he smiled at Lanie who gave a smile back.

"Ricky, Mummy said that I'm not allowed to have too much ice cream and no non-essential food items or beverages." she struggled with the big words.

"Did your Mum tell you to say that?"

"Yes, how'd you know" she asked quizzically.

"I know everything" he laughed, "Let's go kiddo"

"Yay!" the little girl exclaimed.

Rick gathered his jacket and picked up Rory's small bag and slung it over his shoulder making him look utterly ridiculous.

"Oh and Rick" Lanie interrupted, "We have a new guy starting tomorrow. A Fenton, Fenton O'Connor."

"Never heard of him" he replied.

"Neither. Apparently he's coming across from narcotics and looking at making detective."

"Just more healthy competition for me" he said sarcastically. "Have a good afternoon detective."

"You too Officer."

Rick picked Rory up and placed her on his hip. She was extremely light and no effort was need to haul her around. They started towards the elevator.

"Ice cream!" Rory yelled while sticking her fist up in the air in triumph.

* * *

"What's this one called Ricky?" Rory asked quizzically.

"That's a tyrannosaurus Rex Princess. He's the toughest of the tough in the dinosaur world."

"Really?" she asked, "He doesn't look so scary with those little arms."

Rick took this as a challenge.

"So this doesn't make you scared" he teased. He brought his elbows into his sides and stuck his hands out like claws. He started making screeching noises which was obviously not the sound that a T-Rex made but it was good enough for him. Rick started to chase her around the room like a nine year old chasing his little sister.

"Come here little mammal" he screamed in his dinosaur voice.

"Ricky stop!" he little girl giggled while running away from the 'scary' new species of T-Rex.

He scooped her up with his elbows still firmly stuck to his sides.

"Am I scary now?" he cried out.

"YES, YES! But does that mean you are a Tr..an…asaurus…?" The way she pronounced the words made Rick smile, oh she was so adorable.

"Yes, yes I am princess. Did you know that Chickens are a cousin to the T-Rex?"

"Ricky you just said that you are related to a chicken" she giggled at his stupidity.

"You are too smart for your own good kiddo."

"Mummy says I get it from her" she replied with a proud smile.

"I don't argue at all with that" she said and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

They were interrupted by an attractive young lady, perhaps in her late 20's early 30's.

"You and your kid are adorable," she smile at them, "Don't know too many Dads' that would do that in a public place."

"Well thank you. It's not hard to love your daughter when she is as beautiful as this little girl." He knew he was playing with fire calling Rory his daughter. Kate wasn't around to hear it, so who could it hurt. He decided to play along and see where it got him.

"That's adorable. My name is Kyah."

"Beautiful name" he returned with a smile. "My name is Rick."

"Well pleased to meet you Rick. Who's this little girl here?" she replied turning her head towards the little girl.

"My name is Rory, and Ricky isn't my dad silly!" She giggled and dug herself into Rick's neck.

A shocked expression spread across Kyah's face.

"Wow." She said bluntly. "Well you could've fooled me." She walked away towards the exit of the museum.

"Sorry Ricky" he little girl laughed. She so knew what she was doing. For a three and three quarter year old she was incredibly aware about what was going on. Just like her mother Rick agreed with himself.

"That's fine Princess, I learnt my lesson." He chuckled and started to tickle her until she squirmed off his hip and feel to the ground.

"Can we get more ice cream Ricky?"

"Let's finish looking through the rest of the museum and then I will think about us getting some more ice cream."

"Okie dokie" she giggled and ran off towards the next room. Rick happily ran off after her.

* * *

"ARGGGGG" Kate yelled in frustration and slammed her laptop shut.

She had gotten nowhere in the four hours that had passed. She had half heartily cleaned the apartment and had only finished half of her book outline. Rory would be back in an hour.

"Oh my god" she sighed while running her hands down her face. "This is hopeless!"

She gave up. Kate saved her work before getting up and diving onto her couch and turning on the TV.

A rerun of Charmed, good. She could sit there and relax before her daughter, who she presumed was going to be hyped up on sugar, came home. She would finish the outline after Rory had gone to bed.

She looked around the room and just took in how much cleaner it was, even if it was a rushed job. She wouldn't be able to thank Rick enough for this.

Rick and her daughter had an instant bond, she couldn't deny it. She had to do what was best for Rory and if that was keeping her love life away from Rick then that's just what she had to do. He was going to be amazing for Rory; she never stopped talking about him. She even mumbled about him in her dreams and even told her the other day that Rick had saved her in one of her nightmares. If that's the impact that he has on her than there's no way Kate's keeping Rory away from him. She hoped that it would work out between them, work and Rory. Her little girl loved Rick so much and she could tell that Rick loved her too.

A knock on the door disrupted her thoughts. She walked over to answer it, sliding along the floor in her socks.

"Hey" she said staring at Rick and Rory who was asleep snuggled into his neck.

"Hey" he said quietly back. "I got her all tuckered out for you. It seems running around nonstop in a park right after ice cream for an hour tires them out."

"I bet it would" she replied back with a smile.

"Here" he said while handing Rory back to her mother.

She happily took her, Rory squirming slightly to get comfortable in Kate's arms. "Thank you Rick. Really, whenever you want to hang out with Rory feel free to."

"No need to thank me. Your little girl is awesome Kate. She may now think that I'm related to a chicken, but she's awesome and incredibly smart. Well I better get going. I have to start work early tomorrow. Bye." He said before walking away back to the elevator he had just travelled up.

"Bye Rick" she gestured a wave back but he was already gone.

"Let's get you to bed kiddo" she pretty much said to herself as Rory was limp against her body.

She didn't want to wake Rory so she just put her to bed in her clothes. She took off her daughters shoes, stripped back the blanket and carefully placed her daughter on the bed. Kate brought the blankets back up around Rory and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Goodnight sweetie" she whispered into the empty air.

She ran a piping hot bath with lots of bubbles and got a glass of red wine. She got comfortable in the bath and pulled out Rick's book. She hadn't had time to finish it yet but she was half way through and it was amazing, maybe even better than anything she had ever written.

She got out of the bath after she'd realised it had gotten too cold for her liking. She wrapped herself in a bath robe and trotted off to bed.

Being in her large, warm and cosy bed wasn't good enough. She was lonely and bored. She could read more of Rick's book but then she would have nothing to read tomorrow. So she decided to the next best thing.

The phone rang four times before someone answered.

"Hey Rick its Kate"

"Oh hi, is everything okay?"

"Yeah….. Um I was just bored."

"So you decided to call me? I'm pleased but this is a tad random."

"Yes indeed it is" she chuckled. "Well thank you again for hanging with Rory today, she really loves you."

"I really love her too." Kate could tell that he was smiling. "She really likes dinosaurs and….. no stop. Don't you dare shoot me you stupid little kid!" he yelled. "You're meant to be on my team!"

"Rick? Ah are you alright?" Kate questioned.

"Yeah sorry I'm playing a video game. This stupid person is shooting at me."

"Oh okay, I can go if you want to continue?" she suggested.

"No stay!" he exclaimed a little too eagerly. "I just died anyway."

"Well that sucks. I've never played video games before; my parents always thought they killed brain cells."

"Well they were right" he laughed. "Next time you come over we will have to play something for sure."

Had he really said "Next time"? Like she was going to come over again. For some strange reason it gave her butterflies. The butterflies were scattered when she was interrupted but Rick.

"Kate you there?"

"Uh yeah" she mumbled out. She needed to end this convosation for some reason. She suddenly heard Rory crying form her bedroom. That child was absolutely perfect, especially when she needed an excuse.

"Sorry Rick, Rory is crying for me. I have to go. Will see you at work tomorrow." She felt guilty but she wasn't lying so there was nothing to be guilty about really.

"Yeah okay will see you tomorrow. Sweet Dreams Kate."

"Night Rick" she hung up and ran to her daughters' side.

"What's up sweetie?" she asked while entering the room but nothing was said in return. Rory was asleep. She must of fell back into her dazing coma just before she got there.

Kate collapsed into one of the bean bags on Rory floor. How was she going to handle this? She, Katherine Beckett had a major crush on Officer Richard Castle. Oh god, was she a teenager again? Did she have a crush? Is that what it was classified as these days?

"I'm screwed" she whispered and slammed her head into the back of the bean bag.

* * *

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I hope you like that I brought Fenton in! I thought he would be good to add to the mix of officers at the precinct! Please leave a review of what you think! If you have any ideas or queries feel free to PM me**

**-Ainsley **


	8. Cooking for three

"We have gotten nowhere" Kate sighed in frustration.

"One to state the obvious" he snapped back at her. He didn't mean to. They had gotten nowhere in this new case.

"Hey don't snap at me. It's not my fault that we have to sort out evidence. Really it's your fault for not being a detective" she complained with a sarcastic tone.

"And don't expect him to any time soon sweetie" Fenton said with his usual cocky tone.

Everyone in the precinct hated the new arrival. They all agreed that he should have stayed in narcotics. The gossip around the precinct says that he's been undercover at Staton Island for fourteen months and is still in character. Well, everyone hoped that he was and he would soon pop out of it.

"Yeah you wish" she groaned. "And don't call me sweetie."

"Not keeping any promises" he laughed and walked off to the break room to get coffee. Luckily for Rick, Fenton was doing the night shift and had to finish shuffling through evidence.

"You're going to have fun trying to write this into your book" he chuckled. He was so tired. He was in the last fifteen minutes of a twelve hour shift and he was feeling the fatigue in its full force.

"Well I'm pretty good at what I do Mr Castle. I can put a twist on almost anything."

"Okay so try this." He laughed and was excited for her to take up the challenge. "A man is shot twice in the chest with a 44. There is no trace evidence, nothing to lead the detectives to who the killer is. The man was identified but has no family or friends so we cannot identify any enemies or past problems with people. He has no living arrangement on record and the only person who knew he existed was the garbage man who saw him a few times sitting in the street. Now Miss Beckett Mystery Writer extraordinaire, give me a twist that can lead to us solving this case."

She sat there thinking for a few seconds.

"I have nothing. Not even a simple twist that would make sense. Unless the killer simply comes forward?" She had a questioned grin on her face.

"That's never going to happen" he laughed. "Well Miss Beckett let's leave the rest of this mess to Officer O'Connor."

"Yeah maybe he can twist this sorry tale and solve the whole case!" she exclaimed.

"I doubt it" Rick mumbled under his breath so only Kate could hear.

"Yeah" she stated. It was true that Fenton wasn't a good cop, especially when it came to sorting through evidence, or really anything boring. He had to have action all the time or he would get overly bored and start to take apart stuff. Literally, Kate walked in the other day to Rick putting his chair back together because Fenton got bored and decided to pull it apart.

"Well let's go. Do you lift need a to pick up Rory?"

"No I'm fine with walking. My parents place is only like a half an hour walk from here." She picked up her coat and started towards the elevator. She was stopped by and large arm that was suddenly wrapped around her left bicep.

"Kate it's raining. I will drive you to your parent's house then I will drop you and my little princess home." He let off a huge smile and his intention was clear.

"Rick you just want to see my daughter don't you?" she questioned with a smile. "And since when has she been 'Your' Princess"

"Hey she's your daughter, my Princess. I pretty much have partial custodial rights."

"Rick, her own father doesn't have custodial rights what makes you think you do?" She was laughing but Rick wasn't. They had never talked about Rory's father before or his involvement in their lives. It was really none of Rick's business but he had always wondered what happened to Rory's father or where he was. An awkward silence filled the air and it was tense.

"Rick I'm sorry if that was awkward for you…." She trailed off until Rick interrupted.

"No its fine really. It's just….. Just that you've never told me about Rory's father before and I never really asked about him. Rory hasn't mentioned him either and I didn't know if he was still around or if you knew who the father was…." He said the last sentence with caution as he knew she wouldn't like the idea of her sleeping around with so many guys that she didn't know who the father of her child was.

"Rick I'm currently twenty-one. I got pregnant with Rory when I was under eighteen. I was still in high school!" she laughed but Rick was finding it hard to realise what was funny. "He ran off when I told him I was pregnant. We had only been dating a little under a year and neither of us was ready to have a kid, but I was stuck with the consequences and he ran. Not really a big deal. I then started to write and published my first book while I was pregnant with her. She the best thing that had ever happened to me but I haven't seen her father since the day I told him."

"That Bastard!" Rick cursed.

"What?" Kate questioned.

"If I was told that my girlfriend was pregnant I wouldn't leave them, I would propose or something! What could make a man walk away from his child, what kind of a man would do that?" He looked genuinely hurt.

"Rick he was hardly a man." She smiled at him, "He was only seventeen, and he wasn't ready."

"It shouldn't matter Kate because now that little girl doesn't have a father!"

"But she has you.." They were now in the parking lot about to get in Rick's car. Kate grabbed onto Ricks hand and forced him to face her. "She has you and she loves you more than anything else. Her real Dad may not know her but she loves hanging out with you and that's enough for me. So I hope that is enough for you."

"Yeah… I suppose" he mumbled. Right then he wanted to find that Bastard who abandoned her family and punch him square in the face, or better yet put him in lock up for a couple of days. A couple of Bikie guys did owe him a favour…

"Come on lets go pick her up. She hasn't seen you in over a week and I can't deal with any more complaining."

"Really? She asks about me?" He had the cutest smile on his face like he was proud or something.

"Only like every day!" she exclaimed. Rick guessed that the little girls complaining was annoying. "All I hear is Ricky this, or Ricky that. Why can't you be more like Ricky Mum? You're like her best friend now you realise that you will never be able to leave."

"I would never want to" he said as they both got in the car. Rick put the car into gear and reversed out of his parking spot.

(…)

"I told you that you could've waited in the car Rick."

"And wait for Rory to get to the car before I got to say Hi?" he asked. Something about that question screamed 'rhetorical' to Kate.

The door opened in front of them and two older people stood there, a little girl in the man's arms.

"Ricky!" the little girl exclaimed, wriggling out of her Grandpas arms. "I missed you!" she screamed while wrapping her arms around Rick's legs.

"Hey princess" he said then faced the couple standing in front of him. "And hello Johanna, Jim. Kate forgot to mention that her parents were some of the best lawyers in the city."

"And hello to you too Rick. Our daughter also forgot to mention that the 'Ricky' our granddaughter has been raving about was the one and only Richard Castle." Jim said and looked over to her daughter.

"Hey don't look at me!" she said defensively. "Well thank you for looking after Rory today. Love you lots! Bye!" She quickly turned around and headed off towards the car leaving Rick standing there with Rory in front of her parents.

"Well… Bye I guess" Rick said and turned around to leave.

"Bye" the older couple said in conjunction.

"What was that all about?" Rick asked when he and Rory finally made it to the car.

"I have no idea, I just kinda froze. I wasn't exactly expecting my parents to know who you were." She was blushing. She was so embarrassed and had no idea why. Was it because she loved him? Was that just like a 'Meet the parents' moment. She hoped to god it wasn't. It was like she was back in high school again, hiding her boyfriend from her Mum and Dad. But Rick wasn't her boyfriend and he sure wouldn't be anytime soon.

"Miss Beckett I think you were embarrassed." He then turned to the backseat where Rory was sitting in her capsule. "Rory, I think your mother is a little embarrassed." He gave Rory a wicked smile and she returned it back but added some giggles.

"I think she is too Ricky" she giggled into her hands.

"So now you are getting my daughter to help you gang up on me? I think that is a tad unfair" Kate asked. A serious look washed over her face.

"I don't think it's unfair." Rick stated, "Do you think it's unfair princess?"

Rory just shook her head. "Uh uh. I think it's perfectly fair."

"Well for the record I wasn't embarrassed. I just panicked and let's leave it at that."

"Okay, okay" Rick whined, "We will stop."

"Good, I'm glad. You don't need to teach my daughter how to gang up on me. She'll have plenty of time to do that when she is a teenager."

"Hmmm can't wait to see that" Rick asked

Kate was shocked. Was Rick really planning to stay around for that long? She really didn't mind, well truthfully she had no objections to it and after his reaction to their whole 'Rory's father' talk today she wasn't at all surprised.

"Yeah you're going to be in charge of keeping the boys away Rick. We will have to invite you over when she brings the new boyfriends over" she laughed. Just the thought of Rick scaring away Rory's future boyfriends was a pleasant feeling.

"Ewww Mummy" Rory said and cringed her face. "I'm not going to have a boyfriend!" she exclaimed. "I'll get boy germs!"

Both adults laughed at the little girl.

"So you think I have boy germs" Rick teased.

Rory had to think for a moment. "No you're not a boy Ricky so of course you don't have boy germs."

Rick had a shocked look on his face and was kind of hurt by Rory's words, but Kate couldn't control her laughter.

"Yeah Ricky you're not a boy" Kate teased and she received a light punch in the shoulder from Rick because of it.

"I am too!" he squealed back.

"No you aren't Ricky" Rory answered seriously. It was quiet for a while and both Kate and Rick were trying to hold in their laughter. They drove in a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip.

"Mummy can Ricky stay for dinner?" Rory asked as they were pulling into the garage under Kate's apartment building.

"Yeah sure sweetie, that's if Rick wants to stay."

"I would love to" Rick said with a smile. "But only if your mum allows me to cook."

Kate laughed at looked at Rick. "Yeah sure, anything to get me out of making dinner."

"Well it's settled then. We are officially having Castle's famous Pasta Cabonara."

"Yummy!" Rory exclaimed.

Kate unbuckled Rory from her seat in the back and she ran over the elevator leaving both adults far behind.

"Come on guys!" the little girl squealed.

"You heard the young girl Kate" Rick said, took Kate's hand and started running towards the elevator.

Kate squealed and struggled to keep up. Running in high heels was not a good idea and Kate thought that she was going to fall over at any second.

"Finally" the little girl sighed when they arrived in the elevator.

They arrived at Kate's apartment a soon time after and straight away Rick was impressed. Of course he had dropped Rory off there before but he had never seen the interior and it was amazing. From what Rick could see it was a four bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, a huge lounge room and a kitchen that Rick would kill for.

He walked over to her kitchen and stood there in awe.

"See something you like Castle?" Kate teased.

"Yes, yes I do." He then turned around to Kate. "You're actually going to let me cook in this kitchen?"

She laughed, "Yeah Castle but you're not going to find much food in there, and you're going to have to go shopping."

"I don't even care as long as I get to cook in this kitchen." He stared around the room in a similar way that Kate did when he showed her the morgue for the first time.

Kate laughed and walked to her bedroom to get changed. She walked back out in plain black tracksuit pants and an overly large, plain grey hoodie. She looked hot there was no doubt about it. Rick didn't know too many women that could literally look their worst but still be incredibly sexy. He also didn't know too many women that would be comfortable walking around in sweats with guests in their house. It made him like her just a little bit more.

"Well I'll be back soon with groceries" Rick called out to Kate as he headed for the door.

"Wait Ricky I want to come with you!" Rory exclaimed running after him.

"Only if it's okay with your mum" Rick said and gave Kate a questioning look.

"Sure but you have to come home and have a bath while Rick cooks us dinner" she replied.

"Okay" Rory replied and grabbed Rick's arm and pulled him out the door.

(…)

"What do we need to get Ricky?" the little girl asked.

"We need everything Princess. Especially ice cream and sprinkles" he laughed and picked the little girl up and sat her in the trolley.

"Ice cream!" she exclaimed and kicked her legs and flailed her arms around.

"Let's start shopping for the other things I need for dinner then we can get you some ice cream."

"Okie Dokie" she replied.

They walked around the shop laughing at the funny logos on the boxes and making up stories for people they saw. It seemed that Rory was quite the convosation starter with younger woman for Rick. For some reason though Rick didn't accept any of the woman's numbers. He told them that it wouldn't be too good to do that sort of stuff in front of the almost four year old, but Rick knew deep down that he simply wasn't interested in them.

They finished their circuit around the store and collected everything they needed for dinner. They just stood in front of the supermarket freezers staring at the large amount of various ice cream flavours that they could get.

"Wow" Rory said, her jaw was dropped.

"Yeah which flavour are we going to choose?"

"You can never go wrong with vanilla" Rory suggested.

Rick laughed, "Rory you haven't had anything but vanilla ice cream, let's try chocolate. It's my favourite."

"Sounds good to me" she added.

She was so adorable when she acted so mature. Sometimes Rick thought that she was more mature than him.

They proceeded to the checkout and bought all the ingredients for their delicious dinner that Rick was going to make for them.

(…)

Kate was sitting on her soft, leather couch with a glass of wine and a book she was meant to have reviewed over a week ago. It was a really good book but she couldn't get quite into it, her mind was in a million different places and was scattered even more by two immature people barging through the doors, both of them giggling.

"I'm guessing shopping went well then" Kate said while putting her book down onto the coffee table and getting up of the couch.

"Yes very" Rick said and started to unload the groceries onto the bench. "Hey Rory why don't you go with your mum and have bath and dinner will almost be ready by the time you are finished."

"Sure can Ricky!" she giggled and ran off into the bathroom and Kate wandered in after her.

Rick just stood in the kitchen cooking pasta over Kate's large stove and was making his famous homemade sauce in a pan over just one of the hot flames. He had been making this recipe for a very long time and had made it for his mother every week at the dinners that they used to share once he had left home. It was a long time since Rick had made this meal for someone else, and now he was making it for his makeshift family. He hoped though that they could remain to be his 'family' even if Kate and he just remained friends.

Kate and Rory exited the bathroom with Rory in a cute, little Tinkerbelle bathrobe.

"Right on time girls I'm almost finished" he mentioned to them.

"Good I'm starved" Kate complained.

"Same!" Rory exclaimed and started running around the house.

Both of the adults had to try to hold in the laughter but weren't successful, both of them letting out a fit of laughter.

"Hey Rory do you want to help me set the table?" Kate asked.

"Yeah okay" she said and ran over to the kitchen draws and started pulling out knives and forks.

"Whoa, whoa there princess. Let me get these out for you" he said and started to get three sets of cutlery out of the draw and handed them to the girl.

They sat at the table like a normal everyday family telling stories from their childhood and Rory raving on about her day with her grandparents. Rick told the story of how he once stole a horse from a police officer while naked in the spring before he joined the force. He told them how charges were dropped because his rights weren't read to him at the appropriate time.

Kate told the story about how she had to break through security at a publishers building to get a woman there to read her book. It turned out that she loved it and wanted to publish her book, Kate turned it down though because she got a better offer from another agency. She broke several different laws just to turn down the offer.

They laughed until they were all finished their meal and Rick got up and scooped up three bowls of chocolate ice cream and covered them thoroughly with multi-coloured sprinkles. They finished their ice cream and Rory was in need for another bath. Her face, arms and legs were covered in a sticky, brown goo that also had a mix of sprinkles that had stuck to her skin.

"Well I better get going and let you clean up… 'this' mess." He gestured to Rory and the sink full of dishes.

"Of course you would be the one who would leave me when I have such a mess to clean up" she laughed.

"Yeah that's me" he winked, "But I would help you but I actually have business to attend to. Have to go back to the precinct and check on O'Connor; make sure he hasn't started to pull stuff apart again.

He started to walk towards the door after planting a kiss on the top of Rory's head.

"Night princess" he told her.

"Night Ricky" she replied.

He stood just outside the doorway and Kate decided to join him.

"Thank you for cooking dinner" she said, giving him that smile that melted his heart.

"No problem, we will have to do it again sometime."

"Yeah definitely. What are you planning on doing on your day off tomorrow?" she asked.

"I have to go into work for a while and tie up some loose ends and maybe finish some literary work I've been working on."

"Have you been writing Mr Castle?" she questioned with a sly tone.

"Oh yes indeed Miss Beckett it seems that I have been" he laughed.

"Well I would love to read it once you were finished."

"And I would love you to read it." He reached in and gave her a small peck on her cheek. She blushed slightly but Rick ignored it. "Goodnight Katherine" Rick said.

"Goodnight Richard" she replied. It was the first time that he had called her Katherine and she had to admit that she loved it.

He turned around and walked off down the hallway towards the elevator. Kate had to admit she checked out his butt before turning around to go into her apartment and run Rory yet another bath.

* * *

**Hey guys! Hope you like this chapter spent all day on it! If you have any questions or ideas feel free to PM me. Hope you all like me adding Fenton in, I'm going to try and have some fun with it. **

**School starts back in a couple of days so it will be back to one chapter a week. Please leave a review and tell me what you think:)**

**-Ainsley**


	9. Jump into bed?

Paparazzi, one of Rick's pet peeves. He couldn't help it tonight though; he had to be there for Kate. Sure, he hated these events but Kate hated them ten times as much and she was forced to attend.

This wasn't his first book party. His mother was once invited to the second Harry Potter book launch. He had no idea how she got invited and how she was allowed to bring Rick along, but Martha had always told him that she knew a guy that knew a guy. That was her answer for everything. But unlike last time instead of 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets by JK Rowling' written on the walls it was "Deadly Heat written by Kate Beckett".

As he entered the main hall he was bombarded by a young red head.

"Richard!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I'm happy to be here. Have you seen Kate?" he asked.

She smiled as a young man walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "She's always late to these kinds of things." She twisted her head around and pecked him on the cheek. Rick knew him from somewhere but couldn't quite pinpoint the exact place. "Richard this is Ashley forest, Ashley this is Richard, Kate's new inspiration."

"Pleased to meet you Richard" Ashley said and released one of his hands from around Alexis and put out a hand for Rick to shake.

"Ditto" Rick replied happily taking the young man's hand shaking it firmly. "But please call me Rick."

They talked for a while just about the work that Ashley does and Rick being a police officer. He finally realised where he'd seen Ashley from, he was an actor and had stared on some of Rick's favourite movies. They did this for a while until Ashley was torn away by Alexis who wanted him to talk to other 'more important' people.

It wasn't like it was awkward for Rick. He did find some people that he did know; most of them were friends with his mother. He wandered around the room striking up convosation with various people.

He was talking a Miss Florence Harbour who just happened to be his old publisher. They were talking about his old books and his writing that he was doing now. It was the first time that they had talked in almost five years. The convosation didn't last long though; Rick was tackled from behind from a tiny body.

"RICKY!" the little girl exclaimed.

Rick turned around and picked Rory up to sit on his hip.

"Hey princess" he replied ad started to tickle the little girl. "How are you?" he asked.

"Good" she giggled.

"Well that's good" he answered. "Where is your mum? And oh where are my manners? Flo this is Rory, Rory this is Flo."

"I didn't know you had child Rick" Flo asked. She had a quizzical look on her face.

"Ricky's not my dad silly" Rory said, like it was so stupid that she had assumed.

Flo laughed, "Okay I will leave you two now. We will have to catch up later Richard."

"Definitely" Rick replied before Florence walked off.

Rory reached up and gave Rick a peck on the cheek. It made little butterflies start in his stomach. Giant moths soon invaded when he saw Kate. She was wearing a medium length, plain black dress that fitted her perfectly. It left the perfect amount to the imagination and Rick instantly imagined himself taking that dress off of her body and throwing it across the room right now; even in front of all these people.

"Rick, hello" Kate exclaimed. She seemed exhausted after just fighting her way through the paparazzi. She walked up beside him and kissed him on the cheek on the exact place that Rory had just before.

"Hey Kate" he replied and kissed her back on her right cheek.

Kate looked over to Rory and laughed how she had already made herself at home on his hip. "So how's the party been without me?" she asked.

"Dead until you two came."

"Well at least we are here now" she laughed. "We couldn't not come and leave you here with all of these overly boring people."

"Oh I don't think that you are overly boring Kate" Rick laughed and gave her a wink.

"Shut up" she exclaimed and gave him a tap on the shoulder.

Both of the adults turned to Rory as the little girl started giggling immensely.

"What are you laughing at princess?" Rick asked and gently poked the little girl in her side.

"You said mummy is not boring" she giggled.

"You think I'm boring?" Kate exclaimed playing a hurt look on her face.

"Well duh" she replied, "You don't give me ice cream!"

Both of the adults laughed and walked off towards the bar to get a drink.

Kate was so thankful that Rick was here; she wouldn't be able to get through this night without him. Usually Rory was ushered off to a children's play room while she was at these functions, which she was still planning to do, but Rick had already taken her. Later she knew that Rory would have to go; when the crowd got a little too rowdy. Maybe then she could dance with Rick?

(…)

They were so in sync. Every move he made she followed perfectly. They flowed across the dance floor like they had been doing it for years.

Rick was the perfect gentleman. He kept his hand not too far down her back that it was uncomfortable, but just far enough that it was new, something exciting. He led with the upmost confidence; guiding her across the dance floor perfectly avoiding the other couples that were dancing.

"You're a great dancer" Kate laughed and lifted her head off his shoulder.

"I was taught well" he laughed back, "You're not so bad yourself Miss Beckett, lessons?"

"Haven't you ever heard of natural talent?" she replied and winked back at him.

They danced for over an hour; neither of them tiring or wanting them to break contact with each other. Finally they had to break apart ruining the kind of intercourse that had been going on. Kate walked up to the stage and stood at the podium.

She found Rick's eyes in the overly large crowd of people and gave him a smile. He instantly smiled back and Kate's heart warmed as she saw that he had gone and picked up Rory from the play centre. He truly did love her daughter, and it was so cute how he acted around her. He has an innocent soul she concluded. Well really it was the only explanation of why Rick could play so well with her three year old daughter.

"Hello to everyone who could make it tonight" she said into the microphone. She hated doing these kinds of things; she definitely wasn't the public speaking kind of person. "Today we are here to celebrate the final Nikki heat book, Deadly Heat. Although we will be moving on from this character, another character is forming and I would like to thank everybody who is helping that character develop." She again looked over to Rick and she smiled at the sight where Rory was pointing to Rick's nose and saying "that's you!" She looked back down to her paper to catch up on where she was. "So I hope you all enjoy your night. Enjoy the open bar and I will be signing books at ten. Thank you for all coming" she concluded and walked off the stage to a round of applause.

"Nice speech" Rick teased and copped a punch in the arm because of it. A ghastly look appeared on Rory's face.

"Mummy why would you do that to Ricky?" she exclaimed.

"Yeah Mummy, why?" Rick teased. He pouted his lips and Kate couldn't help but smile.

"He deserved it sweetie" she replied to the little girl.

(…)

"Can we get ice cream Ricky?" Rory asked as they headed to Rick's loft in one of Kate's town cars.

"Not tonight Princess. As soon as we get to my house you are going straight to bed."

"Awww you're no fun!" she protested.

"Yeah well sometimes life isn't fun sweetie" he replied. He knew that she would have no idea what he was talking about. He had enough on his mind. Did that really just happen? Did he just offer to take Rory home and Kate kissed him because of it. Yes it may have only been a small kiss on the lips, but it was still something. Kate and he had become really good friends but that wasn't 'just friends' behaviour was it? He couldn't decide so he would have to let Kate decide on that one.

Ophelia was tucked into her big queen size bed with a teddy that Rick had bought her and she was all snuggled into her unicorn PJ's.

Rick left the room and didn't close the door fully so that the room wouldn't be completely dark is Rory ever woke up. He now started to ploy his master plan.

(…)

She absolutely hated when these events ran for so long. She hated that her friend had to take her own daughter home to his house because Kate was too busy to take her home herself. Kate hoped what had happened before didn't confuse him. She was really thankful and she couldn't thank him enough for it.

She pushed down the door handle and walked into the loft. Again there was a child's whiteboard sitting in the centre of the lounge room. It said: 'Kate, Rory is asleep. Here are some toiletries and if you wish you can have a bath in my bathroom. Try not to wake me ;) – Rick'.

'That man' she thought to herself. But she really did want a bath so she snuck into Rick's room and slipped into his bathroom. She closed the door and turned on the lights. His bathroom was beautiful and his bath was huge. It was comparable to a swimming pool.

She looked around the room and found bubble bath and bath salts, both lavender scented. Kate then turned on the water and added both to the sea of splashes. She found that Rick had left some PJ's on the basin for her, he had planned this whole thing and Kate wasn't about to ruin a great plan.

When the bath was full she turned off the tap and jumped in. She had even found that Rick had left a book for her to read, 'Dead Nights' by Richard Castle. She had to admit it was good, maybe even better than his other one that she had already read. She was probably in the bath for a good hour until the water turned cold. She got out and dried herself off with a towel then got changed. Finally she went to brush her teeth and wipe her makeup off.

She walked back into Rick's room and she stopped right beside his bed. Was the whole meaning of this to get her into his bed at the end of the night? She decided that it was and she secretly liked the plan.

She lifted up the doona and scrambled in so she wasn't touching Rick, but could still feel his warmth. It didn't last long though, soon after she felt Rick move over to be right beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist. She didn't mind at all and even dug a little deeper back so she could be encased in his body. It had been a long time since she had been in bed with another guy who didn't have any other intentions other than just cuddling. She hoped that that 'other' stuff would maybe come later in the relationship, if there was even a relationship at all. They had a lot to talk about tomorrow.

(…)

Kate woke to the feeling of kisses running down her back.

"Rick what are you doing?" she asked sleepily, she still couldn't open her eyes.

"Savouring the moment" he replied and continued to kiss her spine.

"You should stop" she said sarcastically and laughed.

"Miss Beckett don't tell me that you don't like it?" he teased.

"Oh definitely" she replied and turned around to face him.

He wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her close. Butterflies were fluttering around in each of their stomachs and neither of them moved. Both of them just laid there and took in each other's eyes, basking in the beautiful moment. Kate suddenly started giggling and turned her face away from Rick.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked with a grin.

"You" she replied and dove in and kissed him passionately.

They finally broke apart as they both needed to catch a breath.

"Well I will accept a lot more laughing if I get more kisses like that" he said with a smile.

Kate flipped them over so she was on top of him. It was like they were in high school again, just messing around not really knowing what they were doing and had no idea what it all meant.

She leant down and started kissing him. She thought she had control over the situation, that she could make Rick ponder over every move that she made; she was wrong.

Rick somehow flipped them over again and now he was on top. He encased his legs with hers, rubbed her back with his hands and leant down to kiss her. Groans escaped Kate's mouth as he seductively bit down on her lip. She was wrong before, they certainly did know what they were doing.

They did this for a while, just playing a game with each other until Kate broke them apart by pushing herself on top again.

"Rick" she said seriously. The seriousness didn't last for long as Rick began to tickle her stomach but she slapped his hand away, they needed to talk about this now. "We need to talk."

"I know" he replied with a pout on his face.

She leant down again and pecked him on the lips. "What is this?" she asked.

"Well I like you and I love your daughter. I presume that you like me so I guess we have that" he answered with a smile.

"Yes but are we dating? Are we just friends?" she asked hesitantly. There was nothing worse than bringing up the 'dating' card too early.

He sat up against the head board of the bed and got Kate to sit on top of him.

"Kate there is nothing more that I hate then a couple who is clearly together but call themselves 'just friends'."

Kate smiled and answered with, "Mr Castle are you telling me that you would like to date me?"

"Why Miss Beckett I believe I am" he replied. "But I want to take things slowly. There would be nothing worse than us rushing into this and making a mistake. Rory can't get hurt because of this. We will need to talk about that later too."

Kate bent down and kissed him passionately. "We will" she answered and kissed him again. "Aren't you going to ask me properly Rick?"

Rick laughed, "Katherine Beckett will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes I will" she replied and kissed him again. This is the last thing she thought she would wake up to tomorrow when she woke up yesterday morning.

They continued on playing around until they could hear Rory crying from her bed. They got out of bed and Rick rugged Kate up in his dressing gown and they walked hand in hand upstairs into Rory's bedroom.

* * *

**Hey guys! Sorry that this chapter took forever! I just haven't had time t write much! Hope you liked this chapter, please leave a review and tell me what you think!**

-Ainsley


	10. In sickness and in health?

"I don't want to go in!" he whined as she got to get out of the car.

"Come on Castle!" she exclaimed and grabbed his hand right before leaving the car. It didn't work though because he just simply just pulled her back into the passenger seat.

"I don't wanna go!" he whined again. "Once we go in we have to act like we aren't together!"

"Well we have to go to work Rick we can hang out 'together' later okay but now we have to….." she was cut off because Rick had practically lifted her up and dragged her across the seat onto him.

"Rick!" she exclaimed in a fit of laughter as she toppled on top of him.

He leant in and kissed her passionately while she ran her fingers through his hair.

"We have to go in" she said as she opened the car door and climbed out. In the squeeze she accidentally bumped the horn and it went off.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as she closed the door behind her. Rick wound down the window so he could talk to her.

"Remember the plan?" she asked.

"Yes wait five minutes until I go in to 'my' work" he answered sarcastically. "But really I should be entering first as I am the police officer Miss Beckett."

"Well you could of you didn't pull the whole dragging me across the gearbox move, and by the way not very classy" she laughed.

"I thought a true gentleman put his Mistresses through pain for their love" he joked.

"Mistresses hey?" she questioned before she walked off into the 12th.

He swore that she swung her hips that little bit extra right now just to tease him.

(…)

"Officer Castle you are here" Detective parish exclaimed like it was the biggest miracle in the world. "Personally I think it's a tad sad when your partner, who actually doesn't even need to be here, turns up before you do."

"Traffic" he simply stated before walking off towards his desk.

He had to admit though, he had no idea how long they could pull this off for. They had been 'together' for just under two weeks now and they still weren't public. That was partly because of the rule at the precinct; that two co-workers are not allowed to date. Rick definitely didn't want to stop working with Kate, and Kate needed to do research for her book. The question was; how long could they keep it away from the others, certainly the other detectives could keep a secret for them but if the captain figured it out Kate would be assigned to another officer.

"What have we got today detective" Rick asked as Detective Montgomery walked around his desk.

"Murder downtown officer" he paused for a second and scanned the room for who Rick assumed was Kate, "And bring your writer friend with you, she'll like this one for her books" he said before walking off towards his own desk. "Reception has the address Castle" he yelled out as he headed towards the door.

Rick instantly jumped up and ran towards the break room where Kate was currently making coffee for the two of them.

"What's up Castle?" she asked.

"Murder" he simply answered but it was enough for her to leave the half made coffee's behind and follow him out of the door towards the elevator.

(…)

They finally arrived at the crime scene and it looked like he was one of the first people there. As far as he could see, only the ME and detective Montgomery had arrived which was weird for a murder.

"What have we got Javier?" Rick asked as he and Kate approached the body.

"Uh" Javier mumbled. "Kate you might want to in the car."

"I'm fine, nothing I haven't seen before" she answered confidently.

"Okay well there is always an invitation to leave if need be" he answered.

"Clearly noted."

Javier lifted up the white sheet that had been covering the body and what was under it was something that Rick had never quite seen before.

"John Doe, male, approximately twenty to thirty years of age." He stopped to take in a breath, something he certainly needed while looking at the mess that was left over from what used to be a human being. "Identification is going to be hard because no wallet was found on the body and weirdly his fingerprints have been burnt off. But other than the obvious injuries that had led to his death this man was in perfect health before his demise."

"So you want me to search all surrounding areas for a wallet and some kind of blunt weapon I'm guessing?" he asked.

"Exactly" Montgomery replied.

"But honestly what is a wallet going to do for us? His face is smashed out of recognition. There is no way that a driver's license photo can help you now?" Kate asked.

"Yes but we could find his blood type and match it up" Montgomery stated, "Or there could be possible evidence in the wallet."

Kate pulled out a note pad and wrote that down.

"Also Rick I think the weapon is made of wood. Maybe a two by four?" Espo added.

"Thanks" Rick said before grabbing Kate's arm and walking off towards the alley that was nearby.

It was true, there was no way a photo could identify this guy now. His skull had been smashed way beyond recognition and his fingerprints are burned off which shows that the killer really didn't want them to find out who this guy was.

"So we are looking for a piece of wood covered in blood and possibly a wallet" she said as she snapped he gloves on.

"And any other traces of blood we can find" he added. "The killer could've been bleeding as well."

"Let the games begin" she said as she shoved her hand into the first rubbish bin that she found.

(…)

"There is nothing in this stuff" Kate whined. They had spent all day going through those alleys at the crime scene and found nothing that tied to the victim but still had to search through everything back at the precinct.

"Being a cop isn't all fun and games Miss Beckett" he teased but Kate could tell that he was just as annoyed. "It's all up to the detectives now" he said as she started to get the paperwork in order.

The door was suddenly opened and Detective Parish appeared.

"Officer you should've finished over an hour ago. You two go home and get some rest and come in tomorrow and finish off that paperwork" she said.

"Thank you detective" Rick replied and started to get up.

"Better yet Castle don't come in until 1, there is no rush on this stuff" she added making a smile appear on Rick's face.

"Thank you Lanie" he replied as she walked out.

"Let's go Castle" Kate said as Rick gave a little fist pump into the air.

They both walked out into the elevator together.

"So you can pick Rory up from my parent's house and drops us at ours?" she asked as he pressed the button to go to the ground floor.

"If you mean your house as my house then sure I can" he laughed.

"Rick I can't stay at your house again!" she exclaimed. "Last night was the first time that I've stayed at my apartment in four days!"

"I don't care missy" he simply said. Even though Kate had been staying over at Rick's house so much they still had been taking it 'slow'. Neither of them really minded though, they both liked the direction in which they were heading in.

"Okay this one last night but that's it!" she argued.

"So you keep telling me" he joked and pulled her in for a kiss. He had just let her go as the elevator door opened and a bunch of detectives got on. This was their cue to leave.

"Castle!" Kate yelled as the doors closed behind them. That was way too close for comfort.

"Gotta take risks" he laughed and copped a slap to the side of the head because of it.

(…)

"Ricky" Rory asked. "Since I'm at your house now can I stay up later?"

"Well if it was up to me Princess you and me would get to eat ice cream all night and your mum would be the one who had to go to bed early but" he looked over to Kate who was giving him a dirty look, "I think I'm stretching it with the ice cream so for the sake of both of our lives I think we better listen to her."

Rory had no clue on what he just said but she just simply nodded her head in agreement. Rick lifted her up onto the bar stool so she could eat her ice cream on top of the island bench. He had made them a roast dinner, it was quiet extravagant for something he quickly whipped up after they had gotten home and it tasted absolutely delicious.

Rory had finished her tiny bowl of ice cream, an unsatisfactory size by Rick's standards but Kate had the final say and that's all that she would allow. Kate quickly came over and whisked Rory up out of her seat before Rick could refill her bowl with chocolate flavoured ice cream.

"To bed missy" she stated as she headed towards the stairs.

"No!" Rory screamed, "Let me say goodnight to Ricky!"

"Fine, fine" she said and placed the little girl onto the ground.

Rory ran full pelt across the short distance to where Rick was standing. As soon as she got in reaching distance Rick picked her up and spun her around, honestly not a good idea right after she'd just eaten ice cream.

"Love you Ricky" the girl said and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Love you too Princess" he replied and sat her down.

"G'night" she added as she ran back off towards her mother.

"Night" he replied and walked over to the sink to start the dishes.

He was in awe of that little girl. He loved her and he knew that his feelings would never change about and he was pretty sure that he felt the same way about her mother.

"Whatcha thinkn' bout Castle?" she asked as she wrapped her hands around his waist.

"You" he said as he turned around to face her.

"Oh really" she teased.

"Well honestly there isn't much else to think about" he said proudly.

She didn't reply, she just simply reached in and kissed him.

She unwrapped her arms from around him and grabbed a tea towel to start drying.

"You don't need to do that Kate" he offered, "They can drip dry."

"And let you annoy me later because I didn't help" she exclaimed. "Never Mr Castle will I ever give you that opportunity."

"Damn" he replied then went back to washing the dishes.

(…)

"RICK!" she exclaimed in between a fit of giggles. "Get out! I'm not going to let you shower with me!"

"Come on Kate" he said and pouted his lips, as if that was going to make her cave.

"No!" she simply said before closing the door in his face.

"I think I'm going to protest the 'taking it slow' part of our relationship right now" he whined.

"Suck it up Princess" she laughed in reply.

Rick suddenly heard the shower start and he finally admitted defeat so he sunk into his sheets and waited for Kate to return.

She took her sweet time too. Twenty minutes later a half dressed Kate emerged from the bathroom. She instantly lifted up the doona and dove under to meet Rick who was eagerly waiting for her.

"I think you're taking advantage of my free utilities that I'm offering you Miss Beckett" he laughed. He never got sick of her in one of his shirts, epically when a pair of his boxers weren't involved in the outfit.

"I wouldn't have it any other way" she smirked and leant in to give him a long, passionate kiss.

They continued to kiss each other deep and passionately, each of then gripping at one another so they could go deeper into their kiss. At this stage they knew that their 'taking it slow' relationship wouldn't last for much longer, but they couldn't break it tonight, they would just have to wait that little bit longer.

"Castle" Kate murmured and she broke away, "Sorry" she said and pecked him on the lips, "Not tonight." She flipped around so that Rick was spooning her and she dug herself further back in him, making their heat radiate between one another.

"Tease" he replied and pulled her in closer.

"Soon I promise" she added before picking up his hand that he had wrapped around her and started kissing his fingers. "And trust me I keep all of my promises."

"You better" he murmured with a smile and gently bit down on her ear.

"Mhmm" Kate mumbled she was already almost asleep. "Goodnight Rick."

"Night Kate" he replied and dug his face into her neck. "Love you."

"Love you too" she replied softly.

(…)

Kate was awoken by a light shining through the bedroom. It was way too early for the sun to be up, it was only 3am. She soon realised that it was the bathroom light and the sounds that were coming out of bathroom definitely didn't sound human.

"Rick are you okay?" she called out when she realised that he wasn't lying next to her. There was no reply. She climbed up out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to find Rick bent over the toilet seat empting the contents of his stomach.

"That poor food!" she exclaimed and rubbed his back.

He laughed, "Of course you would only care about the food."

She bent down beside him and kissed him on top of the head.

"Most girls would run at the side of this" he said just in time before he vomited again.

"Rick I have a three year old, something a little more than vomit is going to be needed to scare me away."

"Thank god" he laughed as he picked his head up.

Kate got up and gave him another kiss but this time on his shoulder. "Hang tight." She ran out into the lounge area and opened up the cupboard. She found the bucket she was looking for. Kate ran back into the bathroom and got Rick.

"Leave me here to die" he mumbled.

"Come on old man!" she laughed as she attempted to lift him off the ground by his arm, she failed.

Rick finally gave into her struggles and got himself off the ground. He leaned on her as they walked to the bed where Kate finally sat him down.

"You should go" he said, cringing as he lifted his legs onto the bed.

"What just because my boyfriend is sick I'm going to ditch him?" she asked.

"Precisely" he replied.

"Well you must not know me very well Mr Castle."

She sat up with him until the wee hours of the morning when the sun started to rise. He didn't stop vomiting and Rick had constantly threatened to vomit all over her if she didn't go home soon. Her argument in return was 'I've been vomited on hundreds of times before and didn't care, why would this time be any different.'

He finally fell asleep at about 7am and that of course was the time that Rory woke up. Kate crawled out of bed and walked upstairs to Rory's room. She grabbed her cell phone on the way as she remembered she was going to have to ring the captain and tell him that Rick couldn't come in today.

"Mummy!" Rory screamed from her bedroom.

"I'm coming sweetie just wait a sec" she said in between yawns. She was so tired and she hoped that this wouldn't cause her to get cranky, no sleep often did.

Kate finally arrived at her daughter's bedroom and opened the door. She found Rory sitting on her bed with her arms and legs crossed. She was adorable when she was mad.

"What's up little duck?" Kate asked trying to hold a laugh in.

"I'm hungry" she simply answered.

Kate gestured for Rory to follow her out of the room and the little girl obliged.

"Is cereal okay?" Kate asked as they headed down the stairs.

"Sure is mummy" she answered while grabbing for her mum's hand and holding it tight with hers. She even leant over and planted a little kiss on Kate's ring finger.

She lifted her daughter up onto the bar stool and went into the kitchen to pour her a bowl of cereal. Rick only had Sugary crap but it would just have to do for today. She handed over the bowl to Rory and picked up her phone to call the captain. This was going to be an awkward convosation that she was going to have to dodge a lot of bullets to get through. She tripled checked her story then pressed the 'call' button on her screen.

* * *

**Hello guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always please leave a review below and tell me what you think or any ideas for upcoming chapters! This fic has reached over 50 followers which I find pretty cool haha:) Anyway have an enjoyable day/night!**

**-Ainsley**


	11. Love is in the air

So it turned out that Rick had been a little more than 'just sick'. One week later, six kilos lighter and two trips to the hospital and Rick was still sick.

"Kate go home!" he exclaimed between splutters.

Kate rubbed his back to soothe him.

"Rick I'm not leaving. The doctor said that you need someone here at all times" she replied softly. He'd been trying this for days.

"I don't want to get you or Rory sick!" he said then coughed. "I will be fine."

Kate leant around and kissed him. Rick didn't exactly like it when she kissed him when she knew he was sick, but he could never resist.

"I don't care Rick," she replied with a smile, "If we get sick you can look after me."

"Not if I'm at work," he replied sternly and gave Kate the 'I'm right' look.

She didn't reply. Kate simply just lowered him down onto his side and let him rest. She moved around to the front of his body and cuddled into his chest so it was like he was the big spoon and she was the smaller one.

"Kate," he asked softly, "why are you here?"

Kate let out a small sigh, "Because my boyfriend is sick."

"That's not really a reason," he laughed back.

"Okay then," she said, "If you want the truth. My daughter is very fond of you, you see, and it wouldn't be very good for her if the one guy she admires died from the man flu."

"Well that's very thoughtful of you. I'm glad you have your daughters best intentions at heart," he laughed in reply.

"Well," she admitted, "I also love looking at your face, which I never get tired of doing."

"Really?" he asked with a laugh and pointed to his face. Kate had to admit though he did look like crap, but Rick was always an attractive looking man, no matter the situation.

"Of course, and when you are back at work Rory and I will go home."

Rick huffed and dug his face further into Kate's hair. "I'll hardly ever get to see you then."

"You've got to learn to stop complaining mister," she said quietly.

"Mhmmmm maybe later."

"Now go to sleep and maybe tomorrow we could attempt to leave the house."

"Maybe," he said and wrapped both of his arms around her, "I owe you one."

"Mhmmm just remember that next time."

"Night Kate."

"Night."

(…)

Rick woke to the smell of bacon. Oh it was so easy to love this woman. Rick pushed his legs to the side of the bed and slowly pushed himself up. With a small grunt and too much effort he managed to get himself out of bed and headed towards the kitchen.

He opened his office door to see his girlfriend and her daughter sitting in his kitchen eating breakfast on his bench. It was the perfect family scene. Rick wondered if this would last. Was this his family now? If it was he wasn't complaining.

"Ricky!" the little girl exclaimed and ran over to him.

Rory was running at full pelt towards Rick and the look on Kate's face was priceless. He knew that this was going to hurt. It was just the matter of not letting Rory know that it was.

"Princess," he replied as she ran up and jumped on him. He quickly caught her and spun her around. He thought he did a pretty good job at masking the throbbing muscle pain that he was feeling and placed her on his hip.

He started to walk over to the kitchen bench and turned his head towards Kate. She mouthed the words 'are you ok?' and Rick simply gave a nod in reply.

"So Rory what have you got planned for today?" he asked as he sat her on one of the kitchen stools and stole some of her pancake.

She slapped his hand, "You've got your own."

Kate had to hold her laughs in. Of course it didn't work too well. Giggles escaped from her mouth and Rick shot her a dirty look. He was literally being bossed around by a three year old. He obliged though. Rick walked around to the oven and pulled out the plate.

"I'm going to play group," Rory added before shoving a tiny bit of pancake into her mouth.

"Speaking of playgroup," Kate said looking up at the clock that hung on the wall of the kitchen, "We better get you ready missy."

Rory didn't say anything she just simply ran over to her mother and gestured that she wanted to be picked up. Kate did just that and walked towards the stairs that lead to Rory's room.

"Don't choke on one of your pancakes while I'm gone," Kate called out behind her as she moved out of sight.

"I'll try," he called back but he was virtually talking to himself.

He sat in silence and slowly ate his pancakes. It was still hard for him to stomach his food and the sweetness of the syrup and cream wasn't helping.

He knew he would have to return to work soon. There was one thing he hated more than paperwork though, and that was being sick at work. One thing was that it is impossible to chase bad guys when you have a constant cough, also didn't help when you're being constantly harassed by your co-workers. Maybe a few extra days off would be good. Hopefully he would be feeling better and could 'hang out' with Kate a little more than he had for the past week. They had yet to have sex but they could both tell that it was time. But Rick was sick so that was out of the question for a few more days. It wouldn't stop him from playing around though. He imagined her in his mind. She was so beautiful, possibly the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen. He imagined her naked lying down beside him right after making love to her. The image just made him hungrier for her and he had to push it out of his mind because Kate was coming down the stairs. With those images in his mind he didn't think he could control himself. Usually he wouldn't mind but she was holding a three year old child and he was sure that it wouldn't look good in her list of memories.

"Ricky can you drop me off at playgroup?"

Rick and Kate were both silent for a while.

"Sorry sweetie," Kate replied, "Rick is still sick and he shouldn't leave the house."

The young girls once happy face turned into an extremely sad one and tears started to well up in her eyes. Rick ran over to her and knelled down beside her then gave her a hug.

"Sweetie don't cry," he pleaded, "I will hang out with you tonight I promise."

The little girl just wrapped her small arms around him and dug into his neck.

"I miss you," she said between sobs. Rick wondered how a little girl could become so attached to a person that even though they had been living in the same house for a week she still missed him. He knew that they hadn't been hanging out as much as they used to because he was sick, but he never thought that it had gone that far.

"Tell you what," he whispered into her ear, "I will prove your mum wrong and I will come for the drive with you to playgroup okay?"

The little girl just nodded her head in reply.

"You better go get changed Ricky. It would be embarrassing for me if you went out in public like that."

"Of course," he said and bowed down to Rory. He then left them standing at the stairs while he headed off to his room.

Going through his wardrobe he couldn't decide on what to wear. Mostly it was just finding a clean pair of jeans that would go with one of his few clean shirts. He had noticed that Kate had done some of his washing for him. She really didn't need to though, sick or not there is no excuse for your new girlfriend to be washing your clothes.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.

"What are you doing Rick?" she asked in a sincere voice.

"I'm getting dressed so I can take your daughter to play group today."

She pushed up onto her tippy toes and started to kiss his neck softly. She knew this would make him relax. Of all of the medicines that the doctors made him take over this past week nothing made him feel better than his girlfriend kissing his neck.

"You don't have to do this for me," she said into his neck, "Rory will get over it."

Rick then turned around in her arms and wrapped his arms around her. For one part it was so the moment was more intimate, but the other was that he needed someone to help him stay standing.

"I'm not doing this for you," he simply stated, "I'm doing this for that little girl."

Kate instantly took her lips and pressed them against his. He was perfect. If there was such thing as a Katherine Beckett dictionary, if you looked up 'the perfect man' you would see a big, beautiful, handsome picture of Richard Castle.

"You are perfect," he said with a smile her face still being oh so very close to his.

"I'm simply a man in love with two very beautiful girls."

"Well in that case," she said and kissed his jaw softly. "Rick Castle, I love you too."

(…)

"What time will you pick me up Ricky?"

Rick sighed again. He swore that this little girl was not looking forward to going play group today.

"Four o'clock princess. I promise that I won't forget."

Rory radiated a huge smile that seemed to brighten up the whole car. She seemed to have that power. People had always said that child's laughter could lighten the darkest of rooms but this little girl's smile could set fire to the deepest of oceans.

"Good. I love you Ricky."

"I love you too Princess," he replied and kissed her on the forehead.

Rory and her mother jumped out of the car and walked into the building together. Rick was almost shaking. Rory did just say that she loved him. He did realise though that 'I love you' to a three year old didn't mean much, but today the two most important people in his life had told him those three words and it made his heart soar.

Kate joined him back in the car. She was driving because Rick didn't trust himself enough not to fall asleep at the wheel, or randomly start to fall over in the driver's seat and run into a tree.

"Lets get you home," she said and smiled back at him.

He just mumbled a response. After the whole two hours of easy wandering around he was already tired and about to fall asleep. Kate just laughed at him and started the car.

(…)

"Castle sweetie, wake up," she whispered gently into his ear. He'd been asleep now for four hours and Kate was bored silly. She had been writing ever since they had gotten back to the loft and put him to bed but now her characters were annoying her. She didn't really know how that worked, how a fictional character that was written on paper, one that could be easily erased, could annoy her but it happened all of the time.

He started to stir.

"Kate I thought you were writing all afternoon?" he said sleepily.

"The characters got annoying," she simply replied.

Rick pushed himself up and leant against the headboard of his bed. "Again?"

It seemed that this wasn't the first time that she'd complained about her little problem.

Kate just gave him a 'sorry' smile and kissed him on the cheek.

"Why don't we go have a shower and then I will go take you out for a late lunch?"

"I'd like that," she replied, "But are you sure that you can venture outside again?"

"Yeah I think I should be good. I feel bad that I haven't even treated my girl right after she's looked after me for so long."

"Since when have I become 'Your Girl'?" she asked with a cheeky smile.

"Since I became a hipster, duh," she laughed.

She then moved over him on the bed and straddled on his lap. She leant in and kissed him passionately.

"Well Mr Castle as your 'girl' I think we should move this party to the shower."

"I concur."

Kate got off from Rick and stood beside his bed and offered to help him up. He simply shook his head and pulled his girlfriend back onto the bed next to him. He pushed himself up ignoring every muscle in his body that was screaming at him to stop. He reached down to Kate and wrapped one arm around her arms and one under her legs and lifted her up. He tried to hide the pain from his face but Kate could tell that it was painful.

"Rick put me down," she said seriously.

"Nope," he said playfully. "I gotta carry my girl to the shower. I gotta be a gentleman and what not," he said in his best ghetto voice.

* * *

**Hey guys I'm sorry that this update took so long and that it's shorter then it should be! Hopefully I can write again soon and quickly give you an update. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review:)**

**-Ainsley**


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